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On the Plausibility of Walden Two

A Commentary Based Upon the Kibbutz Movement and Twin Oaks

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The Structuring of Experience
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Abstract

I have for many years assigned Walden Two (Skinner, 1962) as a sort of grand finale at the end of a course in personality taught from a behavioristic point of view. Reactions of students have ranged from dismissive contempt through skeptical interest to utopian yearning, but for nearly all of them the question of the practicability of such a community is central; and for those of them on the political left, so is the question of the compatibility of behaviorism and socialism. This latter question sometimes arises because many leftwing students have come to regard Skinner as the arch Antihumanist, and they are jarred to find represented in his community most of the social goals to which they aspire.

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© 1977 Plenum Press, New York

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Elliott, R. (1977). On the Plausibility of Walden Two. In: Užgiris, I.Č., Weizmann, F. (eds) The Structuring of Experience. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-8786-6_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-8786-6_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-8788-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-8786-6

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