behaviorism

plural behaviorisms · alternative behaviourism

1. UScountableuncountablehuman sciencesAn approach focusing on observable behavior which, generally assuming that behavior is determined by the environment and denying any independent significance for mind, largely ignores any pathophysiological processes which may, or may not, underlie subjective, behavioral phenomena.

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   Behaviorism is considered by most philosophers of medicine, to be an expression of the weaker, minimalist interpretation of the 'medical model' of clinical psychology because it focuses the study and classification of mental disorders upon a phenomenological, rather than a pathophysiological, approach to the subject.

   Synonyms: behavioral psychology

2. USuncountablehuman sciencesThe theory that a mental state is identical to the disposition or tendency to behave in accordance with the physical causes; statements about the mind are reducible to statements of physical behavior.

   Supporters of behaviorism claim that to be "in pain" is nothing more than the tendency to wince, yelp, scream "ouch!" and so on.

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   Behaviorism rejects the idea that the mind is a spiritual thing, and rejects it principally because there can never be the public human experience of spirits upon which alone the idea and knowledge of such things could be founded.

   1980, Keith Campbell, Body and Mind, Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 61

   A traditional objection to behaviorism was that behaviorism could not be right because a system could behave as if it were conscious without actually being conscious.

   2002, John R. Searle, Consciousness and Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 16

   Behaviorism provides an avenue for the proponent of scientism to resist the argument from the nature of the mind because it holds that minds solely consist in third-person, objective, public facts about people (namely, their behavior) which are amenable to scientific investigation.

   2020, Joseph C. Schmid, The Majesty of Reason: A Short Guide to Critical Thinking in Philosophy, →ISBN, 4.3.1 The objection from behaviorism

   Synonyms: logical behaviorism, philosophical behaviorism, analytical behaviorism, analytic behaviorism, analytic behaviourism, analytical behaviorism, analytical behaviourism, behaviourism