Let me begin by cutting and pasting from an email that I sent to Chris:Chris, I saw the book Atheism by S.T.Joshi yesterday in a bookstore. I wanted to post about this in another Internet site and did a Google search (on "S.T.Joshi" and "Atheism"), which led me to your ezboard community. (I have been active in other ezboard communities). I am very interested in discussing books primarily related to behaviorism and secondarily other science. I am wondering how well these would be received in your community. The following articles should give some idea about myself: (1) My Life As a Psychologist www.sulekha.com/articlede...cid=195387(2) Is there a God? www.sulekha.com/expressio...cid=305893(3) The Camel and the Arab www.sulekha.com/column.asp?cid=282440(4) B.F.Skinner www.sulekha.com/column.asp?cid=254122At the moment, another book I am very interested in is Lou Dobbs' Exporting America.amd2003 (on ezboard) Edited by: amd2003 at: 10/3/04 11:36 am

I am going to use this thread as my journal.I have been looking for a place for my journal. (In fact, I started one, in one of the blog sites. What it lacks is people reading my journal. I don't know of a way to get people to read my journal there.)The July 2004 issue of The Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB) -- the #1 Skinnerian journal -- is an exciting one. It is also depressing. Two major figures -- Baum and Staddon, both Skinner's "grandstudents" -- are going at each other. They both were fellow students at Harvard, in the sixties, obtaining their PhD's under Richard Herrnstein. Staddon has written a book 1n 2001 in which apparently he has trashed Skinner. Baum has attacked him back. The journal also has three other behavior analysts offering their views on this dispute. An author whom both Baum and Staddon don't like is Barbara Herrnstein Smith -- I wonder whether she is Herrnstein's daughter. (Staddon is a professor at Duke as is Barbara Herrnstein Smith.) More later.amd Edited by: amd2003 at: 10/4/04 7:28 am

Welcome to booktalk! We talked in chat the other day so I thought I'd be the first to welcome you!

Thanks, Tara.Have been wondering about the paucity of replies, whether it was something I wrote A book I ordered recently -- Baum's Modern Behaviorism -- came. Seems good on the initial look. Already learnt some new stuff.Another book I am reading is Terry Smith's Behavior and Its Causes.Surprisingly, both these books talk about atheism briefly, in somewhat different contexts. For Baum, it is the first of the iconoclasms, followed by the theory of evolution, and behaviorism. Smith talks about the difficulty of proving the atheistic position.amd Edited by: amd2003 at: 10/5/04 2:31 am

Welcome to booktalk! I look forward to seeing more of your posts. I haven't read any of the books you're talking about, but it's always possible that I'll find the time... In Vino Veritas

Welcome.Does Baum feel that evolution, et all are simply out to bash religion, or does he see that they are valid scientific explanations of how things work? To relegate evolution to a simple anti-religious stance would really piss me off.Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.I came to get down, I came to get down. So get out ya seat and jump around - House of PainHEY! Is that a ball in your court? - Mr. P

: Does Baum feel that evolution, et all are simply out to bash religion, or does he see that they are valid scientific explanations of how things work?Baum's prime interest is in discovering how things work in the field of human behavior. This is an uphill battle, for a variety of reasons. His approach is likely to offend (or not be attractive to) a lot of people, even atheists like Steve Pinker. To set the stage for describing this, Baum first gives an account of other areas where search for how things work have ended up offending people.I discovered the following from his book: even prior to Darwin, several geologists and biologists believed in evolution; the evidence for it was that overwhelming. They took the position that a creator first created simple species and made them evolve. Darwin's conclusion of evolution by natural selection stunned them, since it did away with the creator.amd

God I love Darwin!!! Mr. P. The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.I came to get down, I came to get down. So get out ya seat and jump around - House of PainHEY! Is that a ball in your court? - Mr. P

Quote:Darwin even shocked some geologists and biologists. Familiar with the overwhelming fossil evidence of the rise and extinction of many species, these scientists were already convinced that evolution occurred. Yet although they no longer took the Biblical creation account literally, some of them still regarded the creation of life (hence, evolution) as the work of God. They were no less offended by Darwin's theory of natural selection than were those who took the Biblical account literally.Page 6 of Understanding Behaviorism(I had the book's title wrong in my previous post)

amd,so you are into psychology and Skinner stuff... I would be interested in your opinion...are we free?Do we make real choices? or do we just react to chemical, electrical, physical and biological inputs? Diversity is Good!