Episode 398: The Gospel of Control—Reading Skinner Against His Disciples

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Recorded27 Oct 2025

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Today’s episode offers a critical analysis of B.F. Skinner’s behaviourism. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, positions Skinner’s work, particularly his book Beyond Freedom and Dignity, not as neutral science but as a “theology of control” that seeks to abolish human concepts like freedom and dignity in favour of engineered obedience and predictability. Dr. Hoerricks, who identifies as an AuDHD gestalt language processor (GLP), argues that this behaviourist philosophy provides the ideological foundation for modern behavioural interventions like ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis), which is critiqued as an “empire” that enforces compliance and erases authentic, unpredictable forms of autistic meaning and communication (referred to as “noise” or “gestalts”). She contends that true scientific reform of behaviourism would require it to renounce its commitment to control and embrace transparency, complexity, and the inherent dignity of the human subject, a transformation deemed unlikely under the current paradigm.Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/the-gospel-of-control-reading-beyondHere’s a video explainer from Google’s NotebookLM.Let me know what you think.The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit autside.substack.com/subscribe

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