B. F. Skinner

Jacques Maritain (18 November 1882 - 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and is a prominent drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Note - Library has one volume of 3 vol. set.

A guide for planning and approaching old age and the problems that can occur as each person gets older.

This fictional outline of a modern utopia has been a center of controversy ever since its publication in 1948. Set in the United States, it pictures a society in which human problems are solved by a scientific technology of human conduct. It is now widely recognized that great changes must be made in the American way of life. Not only can we not face the rest of the world while consuming and polluting as we do, we cannot for long face ourselves while acknowledging the violence and chaos in which we live. The choice is clear: either we do nothing and allow a miserable and probably catastrophic future to overtake us, or we use our knowledge about human behavior to create a social environment in which we shall live productive and creative lives and do so without jeopardizing the chances that those who follow us will be able to do the same.-Back cover.

The first two volumes of Dr. Skinner's autobiography (Particulars of My Life and The Shaping of a Behaviorist) revealed his small-town boyhood and youth, and mapped out the development and implementation of his psychological theories, his experimental studies, and his writing, bringing us up to the time of the publication of Walden Two, perhaps the most successful modern utopian novel. In the present volume, he applies himself to a further explanation of his methods and philosophy, and delineates the ways in which his ideas have changed, grown, and been reinforced. This is the third and final volume of his autobiography.

Beyond Freedom and Dignity argues that entrenched belief in free will and the moral autonomy of the individual (which Skinner referred to as "dignity") hinders the prospect of using scientific methods to modify behavior for the purpose of building a happier and better-organized society. The book may be summarized as an attempt to promote Skinner's philosophy of science, the technology of human behavior, his conception of determinism, and what Skinner calls "cultural engineering".

A detailed study of scientific theories of human nature and the possible ways in which human behavior can be predicted and controlled.