In his novel Futurum II, Skinner shows an advanced and future society that seems to have found a solution to all social problems. It is a scientific approach to shaping human behavior. These psychologists enjoy a very good reputation among scientific circles because they have found the key to modifying behaviors whose ethical criteria they have previously planned and chosen. With this social and engineering technology, behaviorists plan to increase the happiness of society. They believe that human behavior is a bundle of environmental reactions, either because of their presence or their lack that a person shows in connection with their contextual or environmental variables. Consequently, the concept of free will is an illusion. In fact, for this school, the behavior people show is a consequence of their surrounding and learning stories based on the principle of reinforcement. If the consequences of the actions are bad, then there is a high probability that they will end. However, if there is a positive or pleasant effect, the actions are almost certainly repeated. Behaviorists call this the principle of reinforcement. Then, what is all this that we call consciousness, psyche or soul? According to Skinner, these contents of consciousness are secondary and collateral products of our surrounding stories.
For him this introspective research cannot provide a satisfactory answer to the question "Why do we act the way we do".
The only thing that matters is genetics and contextual responses that people experience in their lives. These two categories are the two main pillars on which the new psychologists should focus. The behaviorists are convinced that they have repaired the damage caused by philosophers of the mind and cognitive psychology with their new method. If all human actions can be explained by their genetics and contextual variables, it follows that what we call free will is just an illusion, which logically brings us to the question of whether there is freedom at all.
The only thing that matters is genetics and contextual responses that people experience in their lives. These two categories are the two main pillars on which the new psychologists should focus. The behaviorists are convinced that they have repaired the damage caused by philosophers of the mind and cognitive psychology with their new method. If all human actions can be explained by their genetics and contextual variables, it follows that what we call free will is just an illusion, which logically brings us to the question of whether there is freedom at all.