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 | | Walden Two by B. F. Skinner ISBN-10: 9780872207790 ISBN-10: 0-87220-779-X ISBN-13: 9780872207790 ISBN-13: 978-0-87220-779-0 Hardcover 2005-07-31 Hackett Publishing Company Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description This fictional outline of a modern utopia has been a center of controversy ever since its publication in 1948. Set in the United States, it pictures a society in which human problems are solved by a scientific technology of human conduct. | ||
Reviews | ||
Fascinating on several levels "Walden Two" serves, on its surface, as a work of escapist fiction. A party of B.F. Skinner's academic colleagues and their friends journey to a utopian community outside Canton, Ohio whose residents only work four hours per day and live in a resort community. Today's SF fans would quickly recognize the setting as a perpetual SF convention. They meet Skinner the Behaviorist, cleverly disguised as Frazier, and tour the community from tea service to Frazier's "throne". A Code created by experiment and the ministrations of psychologists from birth forward keep everybody happy and productive. For good measure, Skinner treats us to a superficial discussion of true liberty and freedom, which no work of speculative fiction aspiring above the pulps lacks. The novel also serves as a view of the anxieties of America as it demobilized from WWII. Would swinging from wartime Keynesian spending to paying off the debts incurred defending the nation cripple the economy just as millions of young men demobilized? Three variations of fascism lay defeated by Communism and liberal democracy: which of the two systems left standing was best? It was too early to know that a combination of government policy, piles of war bonds in every patriotic American's mattress and a near-monopoly of industry would raise most Americans to heights of prosperity they could not imagine in 1946. It was certainly too early to get a complete picture of Soviet oppression and Mao Zedong was still fighting in the countryside. Skinner ends with a surprise: his characters' trajectories are exactly what a model assuming pure materialism would predict. Steve and Mary, representatives of the prewar working class, choose life at Walden Two, which is arguably better in every material respect than what they expected given their lives before the war. Rodge and Barbara choose the upper middle-class life of a new lawyer. Rodge chooses the outside more relucantly than Barbara to be sure, but the end of the book does not find him in Walden Two looking for a new fiancee. Castle and Burris live in the Faculty Club, which means the decent bachelor housing of the era: one or two comfortable rooms, with all of the necessities and some of the luxuries met. Universities offer cultural amenities comparable to Walden Two as well. So, in material and cultural terms, Walden Two is equivalent to the Faculty Club, which lets each professor's disposition choose his destiny. As a fanfic, I've wanted to offer yearly installments of Steve, Mary and Burris' life in Walden Two. Would Walden Two's studio apartments pale next to a Levittown's luxurious 700 square-foot houses, or would it take the split-level ranch that a factory worker of the 1960s could afford? Would the advent of television kill the community's endless round of live performances and barn dances? Would the cultural contributions of Steve Jamnik's Eastern European heritage be encouraged or discouraged, and would his (likely) Catholic faith survive? How would the first black couple entering Walden Two experience it, and some of their fellow communards emigrating from a fundamentally racist society? America's thermidor of the early 1950s awaited; would Walden Two survive Joe McCarthy? | ||
Picture gives misconception The product was not what I expected, the cover wasn't even the cover that was shown in the picture. The book is in perfect condition but it wasn't the cover that I wanted. | ||
weird... This book was assigned for my intro psych class. Well written, but it definitely turned me away from the idea of a utopian community. | ||
A solution looking for a problem Like Copernicus, Galeleo and Darwin, Skinner was verbaly crucified for what he discovered. Those who dismiss this book are the flat earth theorists and religious dogmatic right. It was not Skinner's first choice to be a social scientist. He openly admitted that his discoveries were just that - Discoveries. At first most scientists have little idea of what thier discoveries mean. The lazer was first described as 'a solution looking for a problem' - its first imagined use to cut James Bond in half. Who would have dreamt that lazers would be used for delicate eye surgery to give people clear sight. In Walden II Skinner set about thinking what his discoveries could mean for individuals and societies. The two principle characters of Walden II are Frederick and Burrhus. These are Skinner's two christian names. Walden II is an arguement that Skinner had with himself. Both sides robustly stated, it reveals both the confidence and doubts that Skinner had about the meaning and value of his discoveries. Individuals and society always benefit from advances in science. The scientists who split the atom did not intend its use to be destructive and many campaigned against the atomic bomb. Skinner realised that the lottery is very effective way for governments to extract excessive tax from the poor. It must have been one of his worst nightmares that governments would do so. He must be turning in his grave at present British government's use of the lottery to pay for education. Skinner was a teacher and devoted part of his life to improving teaching. Walden II was never a 'blue-print for living'. Taken as such it is inevitable inadequate, as discovered by those who have tried to 'live the experiment'. Written in 1948, it is now dated. Regretably no-one has since updated it, maybe because the reality is that we all live in a token economy. Skinner's first career choice was to be a writer. He wasn't a very good one, but in Walden II he is surprisingly good for an academic. A radical thinker, it should be no surprise that Skinner should borrow the title of one of his literary heroes - Thoreau. Only a few have lived that utopia of the original Walden. The world is not flat, man evolved and real social science can help us improve life and society. Ignorance is a prison without bars. It was centuries before Galeleo showed that Copernicus was right. A century has passed since Darwin's death. Many still do not want to accept evoluiton and many of those who do simply do not understand it, despite calling themselves Darwinians. It will be some time before society understands behavioural science, its full benefits and just how great a scientist Skinner was. | ||
Read 'Ishmael' First If you are interested in how people can be happy, read Daniel Quinn's 'Ishmael' first, then come back to 'Walden Two.' I am not a behaviorist. The term 'social engineering' makes me uncomfortable. I do not believe in the concept of Utopia. There is no One Right Way to live, no solution that will bring about the End of History. Humans are what they are, and the sooner we quit trying to mold people into what we think they should be and accept that fact, the happier we will all be. So why do I rate Walden Two highly? Because of it's pragmatism. The basic approach put forth in the book is simply to do what works. Experiment. Try something. If it works, keep it. If it doesn't, discard it and try something new. This approach seems obvious, but in fact it's pretty rare in our daily lives. Instead we are ruled by dogmatism: we do things because that is the 'right' way to do it, no matter how poor the outcome. This pragmatic approach, and the examples used to illustrate it, hint at methodologies currently being used with much success. Two that interest me the most are NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) and Permaculture. | ||