Pragmatic Selectionism: The Philosophy of Behavior Analysis‪.‬

The following presents two sources for the philosophy underlying behavior analysis as it has come to be represented in the tradition of the later B. F. Skinner's radical behaviorism--Darwinian selectionism and pragmatism primarily in the Peircean tradition. Both show organizations according to probabilistic three-term contingencies, but at different levels, Darwin for species, pragmatists for meaning. Peirce shows key similarities with Darwin, and the later Skinner shows key similarities with Darwin and Peirce. In contrast to his early S-R behaviorism supported by mechanism and positivism, the philosophy that characterized Skinner's later work was a pragmatic selectionism. Keywords: Darwin, Dewey, evolution, James, Peirce, positivism, pragmatism, selectionism, Skinner