IN SKINNER WAKE - BEHAVIORISM, POSTSTRUCTURALISM, AND THE IRONIES OF INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE

Acknowledging the significant differences between radical behaviorism, as practiced by B. F. Skinner, and poststructuralism, as practiced by such thinkers as Barthes, Derrida, and Foucault, it would also appear that there is much that unites them, particularly in regard to their mutual disaffection with humanism. The question therefore arises: Why has Skinner's brand of anti-humanism often been seen as crudely retrog ressive while the poststructuralists' has often been seen as daringly innovative? In addition to outlining some important points of common g round between radical behaviorism and poststructuralism, an attempt is made to suggest why, despite this common ground, these two bodies of thought have met with such disparate receptions from the intellectual community.