Upon Further Reflection—The Affinity of Noam Chomsky and B. F. Skinner

Abstract

Comparisons between Noam Chomsky and B. F. Skinner show several striking affinities with respect to their biographical history, academic roots, apprehensions about capitalism and the media, and their social activism. In addition to outlining these points of correspondence, the present paper discusses the Chomsky-Skinner language debate by focusing on the integrative possibilities of the 2 approaches. Overall, Chomsky and Skinner may have had worldviews that were more compatible than incompatible.

Keywords

capitalism Noam Chomsky media effects Bertrand Russell B. F. Skinner

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