March 13, 2016

March 13, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

In “Humble Behaviorism” Neuringer (1991) writes “Meaning is based on discrimination of differences: If everything is “x” then “x” is meaningless.” The fact that behaviorist classify “both mental and physical under the single rubric of behavior” doesn’t necessarily “weaken the term” as it allows behaviorists to “show why it is functional to hypothesize similarities between overt (or “physical”) and covert (or “mental”) behaviors. However, the critics are correct that something meaningful is missing: the distinction between Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) and Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB). 

We can talk about behavior in a SVB or in a NVB fashion and these are two entirely different ways of talking. In SVB we connect with each other, but in NVB we disconnect from each other. Thus, it is functional to “hypothesize about the similarities between overt and covert behaviors” only in a SVB manner, but not in a NVB manner. In SVB it is meaningful to hypothesize about similarities between overt and covert behaviors, but in NVB it is utterly meaningless. As spoken communication is considered to be less important than written publications, behaviorists and non-behaviorists alike overemphasize the latter, but underestimate the importance of the former. By writing about it, “humble agnosticism” is not going to restore the importance of spoken communication. Thus, it is not the adherence to a theoretical position, but the overemphasis on writing which prevents SVB.