RESCUING THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN-BEHAVIOR FROM THE ASHES OF SOCIALISM

The discredit into which the socialist ideal has fallen as a consequen ce of recent political events calls into question, not just the viabil ity of a particular political and economic system but, the very idea t hat the social order can be improved by applying principles derived fr om the scientific study of human social behavior. Before the collapse of socialism, the idea of a science of human behavior, construed in bi ological terms as a branch of the science of the behavior of free-movi ng living organisms in general, had been undermined by Chomsky's (1959 ) repudiation of the behaviorist project to construct a science of lan guage (verbal behavior) based on principles derived from the study of animal learning. I contend that only by reinstating the link between l inguistics and the study of animal learning can confidence be restored in the possibility of a genuine science of human behavior with applic ation to the problem of constructing a better social order.