Single Idea 3165

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / B. Behaviourism / 1. Behaviourism]

Full Idea

There are three different views concerning behaviourism - the 'radical' view, which aims at eliminativism, the 'analytical' view, which is a reductionist enterprise, and the 'methodological' view, somewhere between the two.

Clarification

'Eliminativism' says consciousness doesn't exist; 'Reductionism' says it ultimately boils down to physical events.

Gist of Idea

Behaviourism is eliminative, or reductionist, or methodological

Source

Georges Rey (Contemporary Philosophy of Mind [1997], 4)

Book Reference

Rey,Georges: 'Contemporary Philosophy of Mind' [Blackwell 1997], p.96


A Reaction

The first appears to be ontological, the second about relationships between areas of our language, and the third epistemological. You could attempt language reduction because we can only know behaviour, because that's all there is.