Pigeon and Teaching Machine: Coagulations of the human and the non-human in B. F. Skinner's Behaviorism

Authors

• Antti Saari Jyväskylän yliopisto
• Esko Harni

Abstract

The article examines Burrhus Frederic Skinner’s learning theory and its applications in instructional technology from the perspective of a new materialist philosophy and sociology of science. The significance of the new materialist tradition for a philosophy of education, and its historical understanding is manifested through the problematization of the nature of actors in Skinner’s studies. The analysis shows how theories of learning imply animals and technologies as actors, although they often remain only partially recognized.