Transcript SOME PUBLIC OBSERVATIONS ON PRIVACY

SOME PUBLIC PERSPECTIVES ON THE PROBLEM
OF PRIVACY
M. JACKSON MARR
GEORGIA TECH
ATLANTA, GA. USA
30332-0170
[email protected]
γνῶθι σεαυτόν “know thyself”
6th Century BCE inscription at
the Temple of Apollo at Delphi
But what can this mean? If
it means anything, how
does one obtain such
“knowledge” and of what
does it consist?
THREE SCHOLARLY COMMUNITIES
1.SKINNERIAN RADICAL BEHAVIORISTS
2. PHILOSOPHICAL BEHAVIORISTS
3. THE DISSENTING BEHAVIORISTS
HOW DO WE DEAL WITH PRIVATE EVENTS?
• Assumption: The private world is not made of
different “stuff.” Covert behavior is still
behavior.
• But there are two problems for a scientific
account: (1) private events not directly
observable by others, and (2) how does the
verbal community establish tacting of such
events?
THERE ARE AT LEAST FOUR WAYS
“My tooth hurts!”
1.
2.
3.
4.
Common public accompaniment
A collateral response
A metaphorical extension
A shift in magnitude of the response
VERBAL BEHAVIOR and PRIVATE EVENTS
THE “PROBLEM” OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND
A SELF-DESCRIPTIVE REPERTOIRE.
“…IT IS THE COMMUNITY THAT TEACHES
THE INDIVIDUAL TO ‘KNOW HIMSELF’”
B.F. Skinner, S&HB, p. 261.
WHY DOES BEHAVIOR BECOME COVERT?
1.
Self-description useful to the listener.
2.
Controlling variables may be weak.
3.
Magnitude may decrease if still effective for the speaker (as
listener).
4.
Overt verbal behavior may be punished.
5.
Malingering.
Some Relevant Philosophical References on Privacy
Brie Gertler (2011). Self-Knowledge. NY: Routledge.
Norman Malcolm (1965). Knowledge and Certainty. Englewood
Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Norman Malcolm (1977). Thought and Knowledge. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell.
Norman Malcolm (1977). Memory and Mind. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell.
Ludwig Wittgenstein (2009). Philosophical Investigations (4th
ed.). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
“THE CONFUSION AND BARRENESS OF
PSYCHOLOGY IS NOT TO BE EXPLAINED BY CALLING
IT A ‘YOUNG SCIENCE’; ITS STATE IS NOT
COMPARABLE WITH THAT OF PHYSICS, FOR
INSTANCE, AT ITS BEGINNINGS…FOR IN
PSYCHOLOGY THERE ARE EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
AND CONCEPTUAL CONFUSION.
THE EXISTENCE OF THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
MAKES US THINK WE HAVE THE MEANS OF
SOLVING THE PROBLEMS THAT TROUBLE US;
THOUGH PROBLEM AND METHOD PASS ONE
ANOTHER BY.”
WITTGENSTEIN, PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS
Covert Behavior and Private Events in
Radical Behaviorism.
Behavior and Philosophy, 2009, 37, 1-117.
www.behavior.org
SKINNER’S “HETEROGENEOUS” REDUCTION
“…any explanation of an observed fact
which appeals to events taking place
somewhere else, at some other level
of observation, described in different
terms, and measured, if at all, in
different dimensions.”
GENERAL FUND OF BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION
• 1. Molecular Processes (biochemical, biophysical)
• 2. Cellular functions
• 3. Tissue/organ functions
• 4. Morphogenic-developmental
• 5. Behavioral-environmental
• 6. Species adaptation-evolution