Epistemology: Connectionism: Behaviorism

Behaviorism

• Overview:  Behaviorism is a theory in the philosophy of mind which maintains that talk of mental events should be translated into talk about observable behavior. There may be mental states, but methodologically scientists can explain everything without referring to mental states.
  
  Psychological or scientific behaviorism was championed by psychologist J. B. Watson who wanted make to psychology follow the "hard sciences" by only dealing with publicly observable features of human activity. For Watson, a true scientific account of the mind is one which rests on publicly observable stimuli and responses.
  
  Behaviorism took a decidedly philosophical turn with logical positivists such as Carnap, Hempel, and Ayer who argued that meaningful terms about mental states must trace back to some verifiable behavior. This follows directly from the logical positivist principle of verifiability which holds that only empirically verifiable statements are meaningful.
  
  The most philosophically important type of behaviorism, often called logical or philosophical behaviorism, is associated with Gilbert Ryle. Ryle argues that, with the exception of pain, all of our mental states can be analyzed through our behavior, and he denies that our mental states reflect anything more than a predictable way of acting.
  
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