Was Skinner’s proposed functional analysis of the relationship between environmental and behavioral events more in accordance with positivistic or with logical positivistic philosophy?
Like Watson, Burrhus Frederic Skinner denied the existence of a separate entity of conscious events. He believed that mental events are considered as verbal tags that are specified to specific bodily processes. He suggested that there are also presence of some mental events that would be gained by studying the one’s own body mind and thoughts.
Thus, the environmental cues gives rise to conscious events that in turn, cause behavior by gaining a big loss and short deal that collectively results in the functional analysis of the relationship between environmental and the behavioral events. This functional analysis prevents the different problems that are well-associated with the study of mental events.
By the functional analysis, Skinner explained the concept of internal physiological events in the terms of choosing, willing and thinking to explain their own behavior. He was considered as a physical materialist that believed that consciousness acts as a nonphysical entity that does not exist in the nature. He identified the neurophysiological events that come under the labeling of mentalistic events that surpasses more in accordance with the philosophy of logical positivism.