Behaviorism is the scientific reduction of mind, reducing it to observable behavior and physical language.
Behaviorism emphasizes the outward behavioral aspects and dismisses the inward experiential and mental states. It stems from an empiricist worry that these non-observable mental states may not exist at all or may not be characterized well.
As explained by Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy Behaviorism is committed to three core claims:1
- psychology is a science of behavior;
- behaviorism can be described and explained without making references to mental events or to internal psychological processes, as the source of behavior is external; and
- mental terms or concepts should be a) eliminated and replaced by behavioral terms, or b) translated or paraphrased into behavioral concepts
Simple Behaviorism is the view that mental states are identical with overt behavior. Referring to any mental state is just a way of referring to a range of behaviors associated with that terminology
Analytical (dispositional) Behaviorism is concerned with the third claim and focuses on reducing mental terms and concepts to behavioral terms, where mental states are just dispositions (tendencies) to behavior. It is theoretical reduction as well as a linguistic reduction
Carnap argued that if we take mental terms literally, they are meaningless (not truth-evaluable) as they contain non-observable terms that cannot be verified through methods of verification.
psychological (protocol) statements need to undergo a translation, converting theoretical terms into observable terms for the purpose of verification.
Armstrong view on behaviorism
Explaining simple behaviorism, Armstrong describes the mind as “not an inner arena, it is an outward act.”
Armstrong notes an obvious objection to simple behaviorism that its common for there to be a mental state going on without manifesting any outward behavior. E.g. a person can be angry, without showing that they are angry (no bodily sign)
Armstrong describes having dispositions through the analogy: brittleness is a disposition possessed by materials like glass. Glass breaking easily is not brittleness but rather it is a manifestation of brittleness. In the same way =
“a disposition to behave is simply a tendency or liability of a person to behave in a certain way under certain circumstances.” (p. 261)
The dispositional behaviorist answer to the case where there are mental processes going on but no relevant behavior is the argue that in such cases, although the subject is not behaving in some relevant way, they are disposed to behave in that way2
Ryle defines dispositions as
Ryle-concept-of-the-mind view denies that there is anything “happening inside” you = there are no private, internal mental events, only behavioral tendencies. Armstrong objects to this emphasizing that there is an internal event, especially in terms of thinking. Thinking is not just a conditional readiness for behavior, it is a genuine internal process. Because of Behaviorism cannot explain this, for Armstrong, it is incomplete.Link to originalTo possess a dispositional property is not to be in a, particular state, or to undergo a particular change; it is to be bound or liable to be in a particular state, or to undergo a particular change, when a particular condition is realized. (p. 43)
“When I think, but my thoughts do not issue in any action, it seems as obvious as anything that there is something actually going on in me which constitutes my thought.” (p. 262)
Behaviorism is a profoundly un natural account of mental processes. If somebody speaks and acts in certain ways it is natural to speak of this speech and action as the expression of his thought. It is not at all natural to speak of his speech and action as identical with his thought. (p. 262)