We do not choose survival as a value, it chooses us.
B. F. SkinnerRead
If freedom is a requisite for human happiness, then all that’s necessary is to provide the illusion of freedom.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that true happiness may be tied to the perception of freedom rather than actual freedom itself.
B. F. Skinner's quote proposes a provocative idea that the illusion of freedom, rather than the reality of it, can be sufficient for human happiness. This challenges the notion that genuine freedom is essential for contentment and suggests that if people believe they are free, they may experience happiness, regardless of the truth of their circumstances.
Themes
FreedomHappinessIllusionPhilosophyHuman Condition
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal liberties during a debate.
More from B. F. Skinner
All quotes →Each of us has interests which conflict the interests of everybody else... 'everybody else' we call 'society'. It's a powerful opponent and it always wins. Oh, here and there an individual prevails for a while and gets what he wants. Sometimes he storms the culture of a society and changes it to his own advantage. But society wins in the long run, for it has the advantage of numbers and of age.
B. F. SkinnerRead
No theory changes what it is a theory about; man remains what he has always been.
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I am opposed to the military use of animals. I am also opposed to the military use of men.
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The ideal of behaviorism is to eliminate coercion: to apply controls by changing the environment in such a way as to reinforce the kind of behavior that benefits everyone.
B. F. SkinnerRead
Unable to understand how or why the person we see behaves as he does, we attribute his behavior to a person we cannot see, whose behavior we cannot explain either but about whom we are not inclined to ask questions.
B. F. SkinnerRead
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