Philosophy Discussion

Question:

1. In response to a painting, Chomsky (p. 52) says we can say a bunch of different things: “Clashes with the wallpaper, I though you like abstract work, Never saw it before, Tilted, Hanging too low, Beatiful, Hideous, Remember our camping trip last summer?” What weakness does this plurality reveal in Skinner’s account of verbal behavior?

2. Chomsky is not totally dismissive of Skinner’s behaviorism like Rosenberg. For example, he says “The notions stimulus, response, reinforcement are relatively well defined with respect to the bar-pressing experiments and others similarly restricted” (51), and “In the typical Skinnerian experiment, the problem of indentifying the unit of behavior is not too crucial”. (53) Why can a behaviorist define stimulus, response, and reinforcement clearly in these restricted experiments?

3. On p. 57, Chomsky says “The questions to which Skinner has addressed his speculations are hopelessly premature.” Chomsky is accusing Skinner of asking the wrong question. According to Chomsky, what would be a good question to ask about verbal behavior?