Determinism and Free Will.
A very interesting conversation took place last night at my house. In the living room were Dr. Carl Rogers, Dr. Sigmund Freud, and Dr. B.F. Skinner. They were discussing the different interpretations of determinism and free will. Dr. Skinner stated that "free will is an illusion".He went on to say that no one is truly free,and that we are all controlled by outside influences. Dr. Rogers interjected and said that all psychological behavior is controlled by each person's sense of self concept, the basic need to keep evolving and fulfill their potentials. Dr. Skinner then told Dr. Rogers that he had been doing lab experiments for some time now working with rats and pigeons. Dr. Rogers said that studying animals will not tell us anything about human behavior. Dr. Skinner explained that he could train the animals to do very bizarre acts .He could therefore control the animals' environment, thus manipulating their behavior.
Dr. Freud decided that he had listened long enough and told Dr. Skinner that the only way to study behavior is to study the unconscious ,not the environment .Dr. Skinner did not dispute this, but added that if you can't study the unconscious determinants of behavior scientifically, then there was no need to study them. Dr. Freud said that only using psychoanalysis will uncover suppressed memories,irrational fears, and other disorders. Dr. Rogers replied that Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory was demeaning to human behavior ,and that understanding the unique qualities in humans was the key to unlocking the riddles of human behavior.
As the night drew to a close, Dr. Freud, Dr. Skinner , and Dr. Rogers all concluded that they all could not agree with each others' methods.
