Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!purdue!haven!h.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu!muvms1!lib007 From: lib007@muvms1.bitnet Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Free will and responsibility. Message-ID: <3751@muvms1.bitnet> Date: 6 Jun 89 16:48:27 GMT References: <10333@ihlpb.ATT.COM> <3850@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> <52019@linus.UUCP> <1309@lzfme.att.com> <1966@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> <528@orawest.UUCP> <1979@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> <53788@linus.UUCP> <32091@sri-unix.SRI.COM> <2008@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> <3040@crete.cs.g Lines: 43 lasgow.ac.uk> Followup-To: asgow.ac.uk> Organization: Marshall University Lines: 37 In article <3040@crete.cs.glasgow.ac.uk>, gilbert@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Gilbert Cockton) writes: > In article <2008@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu> brianc@daedalus.UUCP (Brian Colfer) writes: >>When I was an undergraduate many years ago my Prof. Kirk Gable told me that >>my concerns about free will were fundamentally a waste of time. One of >>his reasons were that if behaviorism works as an acurate model for how we >>live our lives and proves useful for helping people in education, mental >>health and other similar endevours then who cares about free will. > > Gable was largely wrong on Education > I know of no behavioural modification programs where > the patient is not briefed on the therapy and does not have to be > 'motivated' by means other than the narrow reinforcement repetoire of > behaviourism. I would be interested in the names of practicing > behavioural therapists who do not require the active involvement of the > patient's 'will' in order to get somewhere. Here's the name of a practicing behaviorist: Glen Dunlap, currently with the University of South Florida. Glen supervised training of autistic clients at the Autism Training Center here at Marshall, and he did not require the active involvement of the patient's 'will' in order to achieve improved social function. Check out some of his publications in various journals; no work with rodents anywhere. Glen is as ardent a behaviorist as you'll find--I don't go as far as he does philosophically, but I have to agree with his results. Perhaps some disclaimer can be made to defend the non-behaviorists by saying that Glen's work is with profoundly mentally handicapped people, and that those of us with average intellectual capacity function at some higher plane. Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, think about behaviorism, the next time you stop for a traffic light, and consider its role in your life. --- lib007@muvms1.bitnet,Marshall University Fred R. Reenstjerna | All my life's a circle, 400 Hal Greer Blvd | sunup to sundown.... Huntington, WV 25755 | (304)696 - 2335 |