|
B. F. Skinner as Visionary: Walden Two |
| Monday, August 13, 2007 |
| 10:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| Stateroom |
| Area: CSE; Domain: Theory |
| CE Instructor: Julie S. Vargas, Ph.D. |
| Chair: Janet S. Twyman (Headsprout) |
| JULIE S. VARGAS (B. F. Skinner Foundation) |
 Dr. Julie S. Vargas is the daughter of B. F. Skinner. She taught elementary school before getting her doctoral degree in educational research. She was a faculty member at West Virginia University from 1966 to 2004, where she worked with prospective and practicing teachers and published three books on contingency management in education. Professor Vargas helped found the B. F. Skinner Foundation in 1989 and is its president. In 2004, she moved with her husband to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the Foundation now has its offices. |
| Abstract: Skinners status is widely acknowledged as experimenter, engineer, and theorist. Equally important is his role as a visionary. He analyzed what behavioral science implied for ethical issues and raised concerns about social practices. In the explicit tradition of utopian thinkers, he dramatized these issues and concerns in his utopian novel, Walden II. This presentation presents a synopsis of these issues and concerns, linking their relevance to contemporary problems and quoting from his book in Skinners own voice. |
|
| |