Re: Skinner on Bloomfield

"Per Holth" <[email protected]> Mon, 18 Mar 2002 16:53:43 +0100
Newsgroups gmane.psychology.behavior-analysis,gmane.spam.detected
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Peter J. Castagnaro wrote:
  Dear All,

      I'm attempting to find a BFS reference to structural linguist =
Leonard Bloomfield that I think is in one of his two later =
autobiographical volumes. Skinner stated that he found Bloomfield's use =
of "stimulus" and "response" confusing or strange, presumably in =
Bloomfield's masterwork, Language (1933). I recall reading what Skinner =
wrote, but for the life of me can't seem to find it again. I'm told at =
the Skinner Foundation that someone has produced and published in a =
journal an index for all three Skinner autobiographical works. Would =
anyone know the reference to Bloomfield (volume/page) or the reference =
for the autobiographical index(es)? Thanks in advance for any help.
There is a passage in Contigencies of Reinforcement:=20

"The structure of language is said to reflect the structure of thought. =
This sort of psychologizing was wisely rejected by linguists in the =
early years of the century, but efforts to find a behavioral =
alternative, particularly by Leonard Bloomfield . . . failed, because of =
the shortcomings of stimulus-response psychology. The result was either =
a pure structuralism or a return to mentalistic explanations such as =
those of generative grammarians." (Skinner, 1969, p. 11)

Per Holth

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<DIV style=3D"BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><A=20
href=3D"mailto:[email protected]"=20
[email protected]>Peter J. Castagnaro</A> =
wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE=20
style=3D"BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: =
0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
  <DIV>Dear All,</DIV>
  <DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
  <DIV>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I&#8217;m attempting to find a BFS reference =
to structural=20
  linguist Leonard Bloomfield that I think is in one of his two later=20
  autobiographical volumes. Skinner stated that he found =
Bloomfield&#8217;s use of=20
  &#8220;stimulus&#8221; and &#8220;response&#8221; confusing or =
strange, presumably in Bloomfield&#8217;s=20
  masterwork, <EM>Language </EM>(1933). I recall reading what Skinner =
wrote, but=20
  for the life of me can&#8217;t seem to find it again. I&#8217;m told =
at the Skinner=20
  Foundation that someone has produced and published in a journal an =
index for=20
  all three Skinner autobiographical works. Would anyone know the =
reference to=20
  Bloomfield (volume/page) or the reference for the autobiographical =
index(es)?=20
  Thanks in advance for any help.</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>There is a passage in Contigencies of=20
Reinforcement: </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>"The structure of language is said to =
reflect the=20
structure of thought. This sort of psychologizing was wisely rejected by =

linguists in the early years of the century, but efforts to find a =
behavioral=20
alternative, particularly by Leonard Bloomfield . . . failed, because of =
the=20
shortcomings of stimulus-response psychology. The result was either a =
pure=20
structuralism or a return to mentalistic explanations such as those of=20
generative grammarians." (Skinner, 1969, p. 11)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Per =
Holth</FONT></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>

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