Quotations by Jean Piaget

JEAN PIAGET (1896 –1980), A TWENTIETH CENTURY SWISS DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGIST.

“Every response, whether it be an act directed towards the outside world or an act internalized as thought, takes the form of an adaptation or, better, of a re-adaptation.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

“Formal logic, or logistics, is simply the axiomatics of states of equilibrium of thought, and the positive science corresponding to this axiomatics is none other than the psychology of thought.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

“The individual acts only if he experiences a need, i.e., if the equilibrium between the environment and the organism is momentarily upset, and action tends to re-establish the equilibrium, i.e., to re-adapt the organism (Claparède).”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

“Children should be able to do their own experimenting and their own research. Teachers, of course, can guide them by providing appropriate materials, but the essential thing is that in order for a child to understand something, he must construct it himself, he must re-invent it. Every time we teach a child something, we keep him from inventing it himself. On the other hand that which we allow him to discover by himself will remain with him visibly for the rest of his life.”

~ Jean Piaget, Play and Development: A Symposium

“I know some very intelligent philosophers, not at all dogmatic, who believe that “science” cannot introduce the concept of finality in the analysis and explanation of vital processes, but that “philosophy” equally cannot arrive at an adequate concept of organic life without introducing finality. It is not a question here of moral or other values, but rather of a concept peculiar to philosophical biology as opposed to biology. Indeed, one such philosopher concluded, drawing inspiration from Merleau-Ponty, that science can “never” give an adequate explanation of the concept of the “whole structure” of the organism.”

~ Jean Piaget, Insights and Illusions of Philosophy

“A response is thus a particular case of interaction between the external world and the subject, but unlike physiological interactions, which are of a material nature and involve an internal change in the bodies which are present, the responses studied by psychology are of a functional nature and are achieved at greater and greater distances in space (perception, etc.) and in time (memory, etc.) besides following more and more complex paths (reversals, detours, etc.).”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

“According to Claparède, feelings appoint a goal for behaviour, while intelligence merely provides the means (the "technique"). But there exists an awareness of ends as well as of means, and this continually modifies the goals of action.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

“… to avoid the difficulties of teleological language, adaptation must be described as an equilibrium between the action of the organism on the environment and vice versa.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

“… intelligence, the most plastic and at the same time the most durable structural equilibrium of behaviour, is essentially a system of living and acting operations.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

 “Every structure is to be thought of as a particular form of equilibrium, more or less stable within its restricted field and losing its stability on reaching the limits of the field.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

 “We shall simply say then that every action involves an energetic or affective aspect and a structural or cognitive aspect, which, in fact, unites the different points of view already mentioned.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

 “A fact is first an answer to a question. If Sartre had consulted psychologists before judging them in the light of his own genius, he would have learned that they do not wait on the accident but begin by setting themselves problems.”

~ Jean Piaget, Insights and Illusions of Philosophy

 “… theory or have remained unaffected by them. It is true that a fact can sometimes appear to resemble an “accident,” as in the case of the apple that fell near Newton, but the accident only became a “fact” because Newton asked certain questions.”

~ Jean Piaget, Insights and Illusions of Philosophy

“Thus arises the solution proposed by the so-called Gestalt psychology: behaviour involves a "total field" embracing subject and objects, and the dynamics of this field constitutes feeling (Lewin), while its structure depends on perception, effector-functions, and intelligence.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

 “We shall adopt an analogous formula, with the reservation that feelings and cognitive configurations do not depend solely on the existing "field," but also on the whole previous history of the acting subject.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

 “But if all behaviour, without exception, thus implies an energetics or an "economy", forming its affective aspect, the interaction with the environment which it instigates likewise requires a form or structure to determine the various possible circuits between subject and object.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

 “But these structures, forming different levels, are to be regarded as succeeding one another according to a law of development, such that each one brings about a more inclusive and stable equilibrium for the processes that emerge from the preceding level.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

 “According to Claparède, feelings appoint a goal for behaviour, while intelligence merely provides the means (the "technique"). But there exists an awareness of ends as well as of means, and this continually modifies the goals of action. In so far as feeling directs behaviour by attributing a value to its ends, we must confine ourselves to saying that it supplies the energy necessary for action, while knowledge impresses a structure on it. Thus arises the solution proposed by the so-called Gestalt psychology: behaviour involves a "total field" embracing subject and objects, and the dynamics of this field constitutes feeling (Lewin), while its structure depends on perception, effector-functions, and intelligence.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

 “This new philosophical psychology can in this respect be traced back to Maine de Biran, for even if in his time scientific psychology was unaware of its autonomy, and even if Biranian psychology was only critical of that of the empiricists, Biran believed in the Kantian distinction of noumena and phenomena and took care to limit his inquiry to the latter alone, which did not prevent him from extending it in the form of idealist speculations.”

~ Jean Piaget, Insights and Illusions of Philosophy

 “Every psychological explanation comes sooner or later to lean either on biology or on logic (or on sociology, but this in turn leads to the same alternatives).”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

 “For some writers mental phenomena become intelligible only when related to the organism. This view is of course inescapable when we study the elementary functions (perception, motor functions, etc.) in which intelligence originates. But we can hardly see neurology explaining why 2 and 2 make 4, or why the laws of deduction are forced on the mind of necessity.”

~ Jean Piaget, The Psychology of Intelligence

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Charles F. Hockett Quick Facts

Charles F. Hockett was an American linguist, anthropologist, and composer of the post-World War II era. Hockett was the last of the most influential advocates of the structural linguistics, which flourished particularly in the four decades from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Profile

• Name: Charles F. Hockett
• Birth Name: Charles Francis Hockett
• AKA: Chas
• Date of Birth: January 17, 1916
• Place of Birth: Columbus, Ohio, United States
• Date of Death: November 3, 2000
• Place of Death: Cayuga Medical Center, Ithaca, NY, United States
• Cause of Death: NA
• Interred at: NA
• Zodiac Sign: Capricorn
• Nationality: American
• Ethnicity: White
• Religion: NA
• Father: Homer Carey Hockett (1875-1960)
• Mother: Amy Francisco (1875-1949)
• Spouse: Shirley Orlinoff (b. 1920 d. 2013 m. 1942 to until his death)
• Children:

1. Daughter- Alpha Hockett Walker 
2. Daughter-  Amy Robin Rose
3. Daughter-  Rachel Hockett Youngman
4. Daughter-  Carey Beth Hockett
5. Son -   Asher Orlinoff Hockett

• Grandchildren:

1. Carly Walker
2. Luke Walker
3. Hannah Walker Edelman
4. Charles Kee
5. Annie Kee

• Great-grandchildren:

1. Chasden
2. Sonja
3. Elle
4. Ivan
5. Dage

• Alma Mater: Ohio State University, Yale University
• Charles F. Hockett is known for: his contributions to structural linguistics and linguistic anthropology
• Charles F. Hockett is criticized for: NA
• Charles F. Hockett was influenced by: Leonard Bloomfield
• Charles F. Hockett influenced: NA

Quotes

“The grammar of a language is a finite system that characterizes an infinite set of (well-formed) sentences. More specifically, the grammar of a language is a well-defined system by definition not more powerful than a universal Turing machine (and, in fact, surely a great deal weaker).”  ― Charles F. Hockett, The State of the Art (1968) p. 40

Major Works

• Progressive Exercises in Chinese Pronunciation (1951)
• A Manual of Phonology (1955)
• A Course in Modern Linguistics (1958)
• The State of the Art (1968)
• Man's Place in Nature (1973)
• The view from language (1977)
• Refurbishing Our Foundations: Elementary Linguistics from an Advanced Point of View (1987)

Did You Know?

• Charles F. Hockett was the fourth child of Homer Carey Hockett and Amy Francisco Hockett.
• His father was a lecturer in American History at Ohio State University.
• Hockett was known as “Chas” amongst his friends, students, and colleagues.
• In April 1942, Hockett married Shirley Orlinoff, an American professor of mathematics and writer.
• Prior to changing her name, Shirley was known as Sonja Orlinoff.
• He enrolled at the Ohio State University in 1932 at the age of 16, wherein he received his B.A. and M.A. in Ancient History jointly in 1936.
• He received Ph.D. in Anthropology at Yale in 1939.
• At Yale, Hockett studied with several other influential linguists of the time, such as Edward Sapir, George P. Murdock, and Benjamin Whorf.
• In 1946, Hockett started his teaching career as an assistant professor of linguistics in the Division of Modern Languages at Cornell University.
•  In 1957, Hockett became a member of Cornell University’s anthropology department and continued to teach anthropology and linguistics until he retired to emeritus status in 1982.
• In 1986, he took up an adjunct post at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he remained active until his death in 2000.
• He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Science, the Society of Fellows at Harvard University.
• Hockett served as the president of both the Linguistic Society of America and the Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States.
• Hockett’s works were chiefly inspired by Leonard Bloomfield.
• Hockett is most famous for defining the design features of language, which demonstrate his beliefs about the commonalities between human languages.
• Apartment from his devotion to linguistics and anthropology, Hockett also practiced musical performance and composition.
• He and his wife, Shirley, were early members of the Ithaca Concert Band, which closed every concert with “Stars and Stripes Forever,” featuring Hockett on the piccolo.
• Every member in his family played an instrument and two of his children became professional musicians.
• During later period of his life he spent much time criticizing Chomskyan linguistics, which he called ''a theory spawned by a generation of vipers.''

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Edward Sapir Quick Facts

Edward Sapir is a German-born American linguist, anthropologist, and essayist.

Profile

• Birth Name: Edward Sapir
• Date of Birth: January 26, 1884
• Place of Birth: Lauenburg, Pomerania, Germany
• Date of Death: February 4, 1939
• Place of Death: New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut, USA
• Cause of Death: Stroke
• Interred at: Sapir Family Cemetery, Alton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, USA
• Zodiac Sign: Aquarius
• Nationality: American
• Ethnicity: White
• Religion: Jewish
• Father: Jacob David Sapir (1861-1931)
• Mother: Eva Sapir née Seagal (1863-1938)
• Siblings: Max Sapir
• Spouse(s):

1. Florence Delson (b. 1889 d. 1924 m. 1910 to until her death)
2. Jean Victoria McClenaghan Sapir (b. 1899 d. 1977 m. 1926 to until his death)

• Children (from first marriage):

1. Son -  Herbert Michael Sapir(1913)
2. Daughter-  Helen Ruth Larson(1914)
3. Son - Philip Sapir

• Children (from second marriage):

1. Son - Paul Edward Sapir
2. Son - J. David Sapir

• Alma Mater: Columbia University
• Edward Sapir is known for: Classification of Native American languages; postulation of Linguistic Relativity or Sapir–Whorf hypothesis; ethnolinguistics; development of modern concept of the phoneme.
• Edward Sapir is criticized for: NA
• Edward Sapir was influenced by: Franz Boas
• Edward Sapir influenced: Morris Swadesh, Li Fanggui, Benjamin Whorf, Mary Haas, Harry Hoijer, Zellig S. Harris, G. L. Trager, and Charles F. Voegelin.

Quotes

“Were a language ever completely "grammatical" it would be a perfect engine of conceptual expression. Unfortunately, or luckily, no language is tyrannically consistent. All grammars leak.”  ― Edward Sapir, Language (1921) p. 39

Major Works

• Time Perspective in Aboriginal American Culture: A Study in Method (1916)
• Language (1921)

Did You Know?

• Edward Sapir was born into a Lithuanian Jewish family.
• His parents emigrated to United States in 1890 when he was only five years old.
• In the United States his family first started living in Richmond, Virginia and then shifted to Lower East Side of New York City.
• At the age of fourteen, Sapir won a prestigious Pulitzer scholarship in recognition of his aptitude for academics and languages.
• After attending Columbia University from 1900-1904 on the previously attained Pulitzer scholarship, Sapir graduated in 1904 with a B.A. in linguistics.
• In 1905, with Dr. Boas' encouragement, Sapir completed an M.A. in German.
• Sapir spent 1907-1908 as a research associate at the University of California at Berkeley.
• He earned his Ph.D. in anthropology in 1909, with a dissertation on the Takelma language of southwestern Oregon.
• In 1910, he was appointed director of anthropology in the Geological Survey of the Canadian National Museum, a post he held until 1924.
• His younger brother Max died of Typhoid.
• Sapir’s parents divorced in 1910.
• Before going to Canada, Sapir had a short affair with the Anthropologist Margaret Mead.
• In 1910 Sapir espoused Florence Delson, a distant cousin, who also had Lithuanian Jewish roots.
• Florence had long been suffered from both physical and mental illness and she died in 1924.
• After Florence’s death Sapir started to raise his three children alone. However, eventually, his mother aided him in raising the children.
• He opted to write poetry, compose music, and study psychology to overcome depression ensued from his wife’s demise.
• In 1925 Sapir accepted the invitation to join the department of anthropology at the University of Chicago.
• In 1926 he was married again, to Jean McClenaghan who was sixteen years younger than Sapir.
• From the second marriage Sapir had two children.
• In 1931, he accepted an offer to become Sterling Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics at Yale University.
• His son, J. David Sapir, is a linguist, anthropologist specializing in West African Languages, especially Jola languages. He is Emeritus professor of Anthropology at the University of Virginia. Besides, he is also a photographer.
• Edward Sapir died at the age of fifty five of stroke.

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Leonard Bloomfield Quick Facts

Leonard Bloomfield is a 20^th century American linguist and professor of Germanic languages.

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• Birth Name: Leonard Bloomfield
• Date of Birth: April 1, 1887
• Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Date of Death: April 18, 1949
• Place of Death: New Haven, Connecticut, USA
• Cause of Death: Illness caused by a stroke
• Zodiac Sign: Aries
• Nationality: American
• Ethnicity: Jewish-Germanic
• Father: Sigmund Bloomfield
• Mother: Carola Buber Bloomfield
• Spouse: Alice Sayers
• Alma Mater: Harvard College, University of Wisconsin, University of Chicago, University of Leipzig, and University of Göttingen
• Leonard Bloomfield is known for: scientific systemization of linguistic study and presentation of rigorous model for linguistic description.
• Leonard Bloomfield is criticized for: his dismissal of serious study of meaning in linguistics.
• Leonard Bloomfield was influenced by: Eduard Prokosch, August Leskien, Karl Brugmann, Hermann Oldenberg, and John B. Watson
• Leonard Bloomfield influenced: Charles Hockett, and Zellig Harris

Quotes

“The totality of utterances that can be made in a speech community is the language of that speech community.” ― Leonard Bloomfield, An introduction to the study of language

Major Works

• Introduction to the Study of Language (1914)
• Tagalog Texts with Gramatical Analysis (1917)
• Menomini Texts (1928)
• Sacred stories of the Sweet Grass Cree (1930)
• Language (1933)
• The Stressed Vowels of American English (1935)
• Linguistic Aspects of Science (1939)

Did You Know?

• Bloomfield was born in a Jewish-Germanic family.
• When he was nine his family moved to the village of Elk-hart Lake, Wisconsin.
• In Wisconsin his father was the proprietor of a hotel.
• His uncle, Maurice Bloomfield, was professor of comparative philology and Sanskrit at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
• Bloomfield studied at local school in the village of Elk-hart Lake, where he failed to get promotion to the next grade due to opposing the existing teaching method.
• After passing high-school entrance examination with the help of his mother’s tuition he returned to Chicago to attend the North Division School for his secondary studies.
• In 1903 he attended Harvard College and graduated three years later.
• He completed his post-graduate studies at University of Wisconsin (1906-1908) and University of Chicago (1908-1909) and obtained the doctorate degree in 1909.
• At University of Wisconsin he met Eduard Prokosch who inspired him to be a linguist.
• In 1909 he started as Assistant professor of German at University of Cincinnati.
• In 1910, he joined as an associate professor of German and comparative philology at University of Illinois.
• In 1921 Bloomfield worked as Professor at Ohio State University.
• In 1927 Bloomfield moved to University of Chicago, where he worked as a professor of German Philology till 1940.
• He became president of the LSA in 1935.
• In 1940 he became Edward Sapir’s successor at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, as the Sterling Professor of Linguistics.
• In 1914 he published his first book entitled Introduction to the Study of Language which was published by the Publisher Henry Holt in New York.
• His 1933 book Language paved the way for creating the field of linguistics as a branch of science.
• Bloomfield was one of the main figures behind the American structural approach to linguistics.
• Bloomfield thought of language in strict scientific terms rather than in any philosophical way.
• Although Bloomfield’s earlier works reflects his interest in the psychological theories of Wilhelm Wundt, his later philosophical position was less dogmatic, and he showed much interest in behaviourism as posited by A.P. Weiss.
• Many critics consider him as anti-mentalist. 
• The influence of Bloomfieldian structural linguistics declined in the late 1950s and 1960s after development of generative grammar by Noam Chomsky.
• Much of his works were published posthumously.
• Leonard Bloomfield died at the age of 62, after suffering nearly three years of a paralyzing stroke.

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Eric Lenneberg Quick Facts

Eric Lenneberg (1921 –1975) was a 20th century linguist, neurologist, and educator.

Profile

• Birth Name: Eric Heinz Lenneberg
• Date of Birth: September 19, 1921
• Place of Birth: Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
• Date of Death: May 31, 1975
• Place of Death: White Plains, Westchester, New York, USA
• Cause of Death: Unknown
• Interred at: Unknown
• Zodiac Sign: Virgo
• Nationality: NA
• Ethnicity: Jewish
• Father: NA
• Mother: NA
• Siblings:  Helmut Lenneberg
• Spouse(s):

1. Edith Maria Lenneberg née Salomon (1923-2005)
2. Elizabeth Lenneberg née Smith(1933–2007)

• Children:

1. Daughter-  Miriam Lenneberg
2. Son-  Roger Lenneberg

• Alma Mater: University of Chicago, Harvard University
• Eric Lenneberg is known for: pioneering the biological approach to the study of human language.
• Eric Lenneberg is criticized for: not being able to put forward substantial proof against his claim regarding start of lateralization.
• Eric Lenneberg was influenced by: NA
• Eric Lenneberg influenced: Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker
• Awards: Guggenheim Fellowship for Social Sciences, US & Canada

Quotes

“The central nervous system and other tissues in the body develop simultaneously and influence one another continuously during morphogenesis.”  ― Eric Lenneberg, Biological Foundations of Language (1967) p. 28

“Animals develop as an integrated whole including structure, function and behavioral capacities.” ― Eric Lenneberg, Biological Foundations of Language (1967) p. 240

“All animals have the ability to group together stimulus configurations which may be physically totally different from each other; however, the animal makes an identical response to certain ones and thus treats them as if they were similar in some respect; we cannot escape the conclusion that for the animal, some similarity exists among such stimuli.” ― Eric Lenneberg, Biological Foundations of Language (1967) p. 298

Major Works

• The language of experience (1956)
• New directions in the study of language (1964)
• Biological Foundations of Language (1967)

Did You Know?

• At the age of twelve Eric Lenneberg left Germany with his parents to live in Brazil.
• He came to the United States in 1945 and served in the Army for one year.
• Lenneberg married twice.
• He pioneered the notion that human capacity for language could be explained only on the basis of the biological properties of the brain and vocal tract.
• He received B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Chicago.
• Lenneberg obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard University in psychology and linguistics in 1956.
• He attended Harvard Medical School to study neuroscience.
• After earning his Ph.D. he held faculty posts at Harvard University.
• From 1964-1965 Lenneberg was a visiting professor of psychology at the University of Zurich.
• From 1967–1968 he was a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan.
• In the fall of 1968 became professor of psychology and neurobiology at Cornell University and Medical School.
• He was a visiting professor at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
• He was an invited lecturer at the Academia Nacional de Neurologia do Brasil.
• He conducted research at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston for locating children with extraordinary language disabilities or living in unusual circumstances to elaborate his theory of language development.
• With his wife, Elizabeth, he edited a book for UNESCO entitled Foundations of Language Development: A Multidisciplinary Approach.
• His experiments and views were encapsulated in his 1967 book, Biological Foundations of Language.
• His Biological Foundations of Language reflected his interest and expertise in both language and psychobiology.
• His ideas were subsequently adopted by Noam Chomsky and popularized by Steven Pinker in his book, The Language Instinct.
• Lenneberg died prematurely at the age of 53.
• Before his demise Lenneberg had been working at Cornell University as the professor of psychology and neurobiology.
• He died in White Plains, where he had been working on a, clinical research project in neuropsychology at the WestChester Division of New York hospital‐Cornell Medical Center.

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Jean Piaget Quick Facts

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a 20th century Swiss biologist, philosopher, psychologist, and educator.

Profile

• Birth Name: Jean William Piaget
• AKA: Jean William Fritz Piaget
• Date of Birth: August 9, 1896
• Place of Birth: Neuchatel, Neuchâtel, Canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
• Date of Death: September 16, 1980
• Place of Death: Geneva, Switzerland
• Cause of Death: Unknown
• Interred at: Cimetière des Rois (Cemetery of Kings)
• Zodiac Sign: Leo
• Nationality: Swiss
• Father: Arthur Piaget
• Mother: Rebecca Jackson
• Siblings: Madeleine Vautheir
• Spouse: Valentine Piaget née Châtenay
• Children:

1. Daughter-Jacqueline Piaget
2. Daughter - Lucienne Piaget
3. Son- Laurent Piaget

• Alma Mater: University of Neuchâtel (1918), University of Zurich, University of Geneva
• Jean Piaget is known for: Constructivism, Genevan School, genetic epistemology, theory of cognitive development, object permanence, and egocentrism.
• Jean Piaget is criticized for: not considering sociocultural or geographical differences among children.
• Jean Piaget was influenced by: Immanuel Kant, Henri Bergson, Pierre Janet, Alfred Binet, Théodore Simon, Sabina Spielrein, and James Mark Baldwin.
• Jean Piaget influenced: Rabbi ShlomoWolbe, BärbelInhelder, Jerome Bruner, Kenneth Kaye, Lawrence Kohlberg, Robert Kegan, Howard Gardner, Thomas Kuhn, Seymour Papert, Lev Vygotsky, Jordan Peterson, and John Flavell.

Quotes

“I know some very intelligent philosophers, not at all dogmatic, who believe that “science” cannot introduce the concept of finality in the analysis and explanation of vital processes, but that “philosophy” equally cannot arrive at an adequate concept of organic life without introducing finality. It is not a question here of moral or other values, but rather of a concept peculiar to philosophical biology as opposed to biology. Indeed, one such philosopher concluded, drawing inspiration from Merleau-Ponty, that science can “never” give an adequate explanation of the concept of the “whole structure” of the organism.” ― Jean Piaget, Insights and Illusions of Philosophy

Major Works

• The Language and Thought of the Child (1923)
• The Child's Conception of the World (1926)
• Child's Conception of Physical Causality (1927)
• Judgment and Reasoning in the Child (1928)
• The Moral Judgment of the Child (1932)
• The Origins of Intelligence in Children (1936)
• The construction of Reality in the Child (1937)
• The Child's Conception of Number (1941)
• Play, Dreams and Imitation in Childhood (1945)
• The psychology of intelligence (1947)
• Logic and Psychology (1953)
• The Child's Conception of Space (1956)
• Six psychological Studies (1964)
• Insights and Illusions of Philosophy (1965)
• Sociological Studies (1965)
• The Psychology of the Child (1966)
• Mental imagery in the child: a Study of the Development of Imaginal Representation (1966)
• Biology and Knowledge: An Essay on the Relations Between Organic Regulations and Cognitive Processes (1967)
• Memory and intelligence (1968)
• Science of Education and the Psychology of the Child (1969)
• The Child's Conception of Time (1969)
• Genetic Epistemology (1970)
• Psychology and Epistemology: Towards a Theory of Knowledge (1971)
• OuVaL'education (1972)
• Equilibration of Cognitive Structures: The Central Problem of Intellectual Development (1975)
• The Essential Piaget (1977)
• The Child and Reality: Problems of Genetic Psychology (1973)
• To understand is to invent: The Future of Education (1973)
• Success and Understanding (1974)
• Understanding Causality (1974)
• The Origin of the Idea of Chance in Children (1975)
• Behaviour and Evolution (1976)
• Language and Learning: The Debate Between Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky (1979)
• Adaptation and Intelligence: Organic Selection and Phenocopy (1980)
• Psychogenesis and the History of Science (1982)

Did You Know?

• He was the eldest son born to Arthur Piaget and Rebecca Jackson.
• His father was a professor of medieval literature at the University of Neuchâtel.
• Much of Piaget's childhood was influenced by his father, who was profoundly dedicated to his studies and work.
• He made his first publication at the age of 10 and continued working until his death at the age of 84.
• At the University of Neuchâtel, he finished natural science studies in 1916 and earned a doctoral degree for research on mollusks in 1918.
• Piaget is famous for his learning theories based on different stages in the development of children's intelligence, which are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational.
• Piaget’s theories on child development are collectively called "genetic epistemology."
• Piaget created the International Center for Genetic Epistemology in Geneva in 1955 and directed it until his death in 1980.
• His work with children and focus on child development lead to many of the early education reform movements.
• From 1925 to 1929 Piaget was professor of psychology, sociology, and the philosophy of science at the University of Neuchâtel.
• Piaget made many impressive guest appearances at conferences concerning childhood development and learning.
• He authored more than 50 books and hundreds of papers.
• Piaget was the recipient of honorary degrees from Oxford and Harvard universities.
• He is the recipient of many the prestigious accolades, such as Erasmus (1972) and Balzan (1978) prizes.
• He died in Geneva and to be concurrent with his request he was buried with his family in an unmarked grave in the Cimetière des Rois.

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Stephen Krashen Quick Facts

Stephen Krashen (b. 1941) is an American Linguist, educational researcher, political activist, and professor emeritus at the University of Southern California.

Profile

• Birth Name: Stephen Krashen
• Date of Birth: 1941
• Placf Birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Nationality: American
• Alma Mater: University of California, Los Angeles
• Stephen Krashen is known for: work in establishing a general theory of second language acquisition, as the cofounder of the Natural Approach, and as the inventor of sheltered subject matter teaching.
• Stephen Krashen is widely criticized because: his theories lack substantial empirical content and have limited explanatory power.
• Krashen is influenced by: Professor Jim Cummins

Quotes

“Language is best taught when it is being used to transmit messages, not when it is explicitly taught for conscious learning.” ―  Stephen Krashen, The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom (1983)

Major Works

• Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning (1981)
• Language Two (1982)
• Child-adult Differences in Second Language Acquisition (1982)
• Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition (1982)
• Language Two (1982)
• The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom (1983)
• Writing--research, theory, and applications (1984)
• The input hypothesis (1985)
• Inquiries & Insights: Second Language Teaching: Immersion & Bilingual Education, Literacy (1985)
• Language Acquisition and Language Education (1989)
• Fundamentals of language education (1992)
• The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research( 1993)
• Under Attack: The Case against Bilingual Education 1996)
• Every Person a Reader: An Alternative to the California Task Force Report on Reading (1996)
• The Case for Late Intervention: Once a Good Reader, Always a Good Reader (1996)
• Sheltered English/ ESL Manual (1997)
• Foreign language education the easy way (1997)
• Three Arguments Against Whole Language & why They are Wrong (1999)
• Condemned without a Trial: Bogus Arguments against Bilingual Education (1999)
• Explorations in Language Acquisition and Use (2003)
• Power of Reading: Insights from the Research 2nd Edition (2004)
• Summer Reading: Program and Evidence (2008)
• Free Voluntary Reading (2011)
• Fourth Estate, Fall 2016: Developing Esol Language Proficiency (2016)
• Comprehensible and Compelling: The Causes and Effects of Free Voluntary Reading (2017)

Did You Know?

• Stephen Krashen received his doctorate degree from the University of California in the year 1972.
• Krashen is chiefly noted for postulating a number of SLA theories such as the Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis, the Monitor Hypothesis, the Affective Filter Hypothesis, and the Natural Order Hypothesis.
• Krashen based many of his ideas on the theories of Professor Jim Cummins of the University of Toronto.
• He founded the Natural Approach (1983) in association with Terrell.
• His Bilingual Education is widely used in ESL classrooms in California, USA.
• Krashen's Bilingual Education earned him a lot of money.
• Despite its influence across the country, the bilingual education is heavily criticized for its lack of scientific evidence and de-emphasis on English phonics, grammar, spelling, reading, or writing.
• Before proposing bilingual education, Krashen was an advocate of "structured immersion" English-language training for children.
• He spends hours on the Internet to respond numerous queries regarding his theories.
• Krashen has authored numerous books and articles contributing to the fields of second language acquisition, bilingual education, and literacy.

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Larry Selinker Quick Facts

Larry Selinker (1937) is an American linguist and the world’s most influential Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theorist.

Profile

• Birth Name: Larry Selinker
• Date of Birth: September 19, 1937
• Zodiac Sign: Virgo
• Nationality: American
• Spouse: Phyllis Selinker
• Children: Mike Selinker
• Alma Mater: Brandeis University, The American University, Georgetown University.
• Larry Selinker is known for: his concept of interlanguage which helped to found the field of Second Language Acquisition.
• Larry Selinker is criticized for: limited explanatory power of his interlanguage theory.
• Larry Selinker was influenced by: Pit Corder.

Quotes

“[t]he process of learning a second language (L2) is characteristically non-linear and fragmentary, marked by a mixed landscape of rapid progression in certain areas but slow movement, incubation or even permanent stagnation in others. Such a process results in a linguistic system known as ‘interlanguage’.” ― Larry Selinker, “Interlanguage” (1972)

Major Works

• “Language Transfer” (1969)
• “Interlanguage” (1972)
• Workbook in Second Language Acquisition (1984)
• Rediscovering Interlanguage (1991)
• Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course (1993)
• The Current State of Interlanguage: Studies in Honor of William E. Rutherford (1995)
• Second Language Learning Data Analysis : Teachers Manual (1998)

Did You Know?

• Larry Selinker is chiefly noted for his concept of interlanguage theory, which paved the way for laying the foundation of modern research into SLA.
• He proposed his interlanguage theory in his paper “Interlanguage” which appeared in the January 1972 issue of the journal International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching.
• His paper, “Language Transfer” first appeared in a 1969 edition of General Linguistics.
• His interlanguage theory is also known as compromise system, approximative system, idiosyncratic dialect, learner language, and transitional competence.
• Although Selinker has been credited for postulating the interlanguage theory, in essence, he based it upon Pit Corder's previous work on the nature of language learners' errors.
• Selinker’s interlanguage focuses on the linguistic and psychological aspects of SLA research.
• Selinker earned his doctorate degree from Georgetown University in 1966.
• He was the assistant professor of linguistics and the director of English for foreign students from 1966 to 1975 in the University of Washington.
• Selinker held the position of director of the University of Michigan’s English Language Institute from 1977 to 1982.
• At University of Michigan he designed a course entitled “The Good and Bad Language Learner” which was widely popular amongst undergraduate students.
• He was also a Professor of Linguistics in the University of Michigan until his retirement in 1993.
• After his retirement the Regents of the University of Michigan awarded Professor Selinker an emeritus title.
• His son Mike Selinker is a well-known game designer and puzzle maker.
• His wife, Phyllis Selinker is an attorney specializing in pro bono services.

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Ferdinand de Saussure Quick Facts

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 –1913) was a Swiss linguist from the early 20th century who is deemed by many as the chief forerunner of the structural linguistics.

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• Birth Name: Ferdinand Mongin de Saussure
• Date of Birth: November 26, 1857
• Place of Birth: Geneva, Switzerland
• Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius
• Date of Death: February 22, 1913
• Cause of Death: NA
• Place of Death: Vufflens-le-Château, Vaud, Switzerland
• Place of Burial: NA
• Ethnicity:  NA
• Nationality:  Swish
• Father:  Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure (1829-1905)
• Mother: Louise Elisabeth de Pourtalès (1837-1906)
• Siblings:

1. Brother - Horace de Saussure (1859-1926)
2. Sister -  Albertine Adèle de Saussure (1861-1940)
3. Sister - Elisabeth Théodora de Saussure (1863-1944)
4. Brother - Léopold de Saussure (1866-1925)
5. Brother - René de Saussure (1868-1943)
6. Sister - Jeanne de Saussure (1869-1900)
7. Brother - Louis Octave de Saussure (1871-1943)
8. Brother - Maximilien de Saussure (1873-1875)

• Spouse: Marie de Saussure (Marie Eugénie Faesch) (1867-1950)
• Children:

1. Son - Raymond Maximilien Théodore de Saussure (1884-1971)
2. Son- Jacques Alexandre Benedicte de Saussure (1892-1969)
3. Son-André Victor de Saussure (1895-1895)

• Alma Mater: University of Geneva, Leipzig University (PhD, 1880), University of Berlin
• Ferdinand de Saussure is known for: initiating a new approach to linguistics called the structural linguistics.
• Ferdinand de Saussure is criticized because: many of his ideas are now proven wrong.
• Ferdinand de Saussure was influenced by:  Émile Durkheim, August Leskien, Heinrich Zimmer, Hermann Oldenberg
• Ferdinand de Saussure’s works inspired:  Émile Benveniste, Walter Couvreur, Nikolay Trubetzkoy, Roman Jakobson, Leonard Bloomfield, Eugene Nida , Bernard Bloch , George L. Trager , Rulon S. Wells III, Charles Hockett, and Noam Chomsky .

Quotes

“Speech has both an individual and a social side, and we cannot conceive of one without the other.”
- Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics

Major Works

• Mémoire sur le systéme primitif des voyelles dans les langues indoeuropéennes (1879)
• Cours de linguistique générale (1916)

Did You Know?

• Ferdinand de Saussure was the eldest son born to Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure and Louise Elisabeth de Pourtalès.
• His father was a mineralogist, entomologist, and taxonomist.
• His brother René de Saussure was a linguist and Esperantist.
• Saussure’s another brother Léopold de Saussure was a scholar of ancient Chinese astronomy.
• His eldest son Raymond de Saussure was a psychoanalyst.
• Saussure hardly published any remarkable work during his lifetime except the Mémoire sur le systéme primitif des voyelles dans les langues indoeuropéennes (1879).
• His most naotable work Cours de linguistique générale was published posthumously in 1916.
• Cours de linguistique générale contains his lectures about important principles of language description in Geneva between 1907 and 1911 which were collected by his pupils.
• Saussure is generally considered the founder of modern linguistics for giving three key directions in the study of language, such as the distinction between Synchrony and Diachrony, between langue and parole, between signified and signifier.
• Saussure is the first linguist to emphasize the importance of viewing language as a living phenomenon.
• He was awarded his doctorate at Leipzig in 1880.

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Quotations by Steven Pinker

STEVEN PINKER (B. 1954), A CANADIAN BORN AMERICAN EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGIST, COGNITIVE SCIENTIST, AND LINGUIST.

“Just as blueprints don't necessarily specify blue buildings, selfish genes don't necessarily specify selfish organisms. As we shall see, sometimes the most selfish thing a gene can do is build a selfless brain. Genes are a play within a play, not the interior monologue of the players.”

~Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works (1997)

“I believe that the rape-is-not-about-sex doctrine will go down in history as an example of extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds. It is preposterous on the face of it, does not deserve its sanctity, is contradicted by a mass of evidence, and is getting in the way of the only morally relevant goal surrounding rape, the effort to stamp it out.”

~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (2002)

“Suppose the reasoning centers of the brain can get their hands on the mechanisms that plop shapes into the array and that read their locations out of it. Those reasoning demons can exploit the geometry of the array as a surrogate for keeping certain logical constraints in mind. Wealth, like location on a line, is transitive: if A is richer than B, and B is richer than C, then A is richer than C. By using location in an image to symbolize wealth, the thinker takes advantage of the transitivity of location built into the array, and does not have to enter it into a chain of deductive steps. The problem becomes a matter of plop down and look up. It is a fine example of how the form of a mental representation determines what is easy or hard to think.”

~ Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works (1997)

“Humans . . . entered the 'cognitive niche.' Remember the definition of intelligence from Chapter 2: using knowledge of how things work to attain goals in the face of obstacles. By learning which manipulations achieve which goals, humans have mastered the art of the surprise attack. They use novel, goal-oriented courses of action to overcome the Maginot Line defenses of other organisms, which can respond only over evolutionary time. The manipulations can be novel because human knowledge is not just couched in concrete instructions like 'how to catch a rabbit.' Humans analyze the world using intuitive theories of objects, forces, paths, places, manners, states, substances, hidden biochemical essences, and, for other animals and people, beliefs and desires. . . . People compose new knowledge and plans by mentally playing out combinatorial interactions among these laws in their mind's eye.”

~ Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works (1997)

“Suppose the reasoning centers of the brain can get their hands on the mechanisms that plop shapes into the array and that read their locations out of it. Those reasoning demons can exploit the geometry of the array as a surrogate for keeping certain logical constraints in mind. Wealth, like location on a line, is transitive: if A is richer than B, and B is richer than C, then A is richer than C. By using location in an image to symbolize wealth, the thinker takes advantage of the transitivity of location built into the array, and does not have to enter it into a chain of deductive steps. The problem becomes a matter of plop down and look up. It is a fine example of how the form of a mental representation determines what is easy or hard to think.”

~ Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works (1997)

“Visual thinking is often driven more strongly by the conceptual knowledge we use to organize our images than by the contents of the images themselves. Chess masters are known for their remarkable memory for the pieces on a chessboard. But it's not because people with photographic memories become chess masters. The masters are no better than beginners when remembering a board of randomly arranged pieces. Their memory captures meaningful relations among the pieces, such as threats and defenses, not just their distribution in space.”

~ Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works (1997)

“The problem with the religious solution [to philosophical problems] was stated by Mencken when he wrote, 'Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.' For anyone with a persistent intellectual curiosity, religious explanations are not worth knowing because they pile equally baffling enigmas on top of the original ones. What gave God a mind, free will, knowledge, certainty about right and wrong? How does he infuse them into a universe that seems to run just fine according to physical laws? How does he get ghostly souls to interact with hard matter? And most perplexing of all, if the world unfolds according to a wise and merciful plan, why does it contain so much suffering? As the Yiddish expression says, If God lived on earth, people would break his windows.”

~ Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works (1997)

“According to a recent study of the brains of identical and fraternal twins, differences in the amount of gray matter in the frontal lobes are not only genetically influenced but are significantly correlated with differences in intelligence.”

~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (2002)

“As people age, they confuse changes in themselves with changes in the world, and changes in the world with moral decline—the illusion of the good old days.”

~ Steven Pinker, The Sense of Style (2014)

“Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that one adjusts to reality essentially without the use of language and that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection. The fact of the matter is that the ‘real world’ is to a large extent unconsciously built up on the language habits of the group... We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation.”

 ~ Steven Pinker, "Rules of Language," Science (August 2, 1991)

“It's natural to think that living things must be the handiwork of a designer. But it was also natural to think that the sun went around the earth. Overcoming naive impressions to figure out how things really work is one of humanity's highest callings.”

~ Steven Pinker, “Can You Believe in God and Evolution?” Time Magazine, (August 7, 2005)

“Equality is not the empirical claim that all groups of humans are interchangeable; it is the moral principle that individuals should not be judged or constrained by the average properties of their group.”

~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (2002)

“We are all members of the same flawed species. Putting our moral vision into practice means imposing our will on others. The human lust for power and esteem, coupled with its vulnerability to self-deception and self-righteousness, makes that an invitation to a calamity, all the worse when the power is directed at a goal as quixotic as eradicating human self-interest.”

~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

“Nothing invests life with more meaning than the realisation that every moment of sentience is a precious gift.”

~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature  (2002)

“As technology accumulates and people in more parts of the planet become interdependent, the hatred between them tends to decrease, for the simple reason that you can't kill someone and trade with him too.”

~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature  (2002)

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Steven Pinker Quick Facts

Steven Pinker (b. 1954) is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author.

Profile

• Birth Name: Steven Arthur Pinker
• Date of Birth: September 18, 1954
• Place of Birth: Montreal, Québec, Canada
• Zodiac Sign: Virgo
• Ethnicity: Canadian
• Nationality: Canadian, American
• Height: 5 ft 9 in
• Father: Harry Pinker
• Mother: Roslyn Pinker née Wiesenfeld
• Siblings:

1. Brother: Robert Pinker
2. Sister: Susan Pinker (b. 1957)

• Spouse(s):      

1. Nancy Etcoff  (m. 1980; div. 1992)
2. Ilavenil Subbiah (m. 1995; div. 2006)
3. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (b. 1950;  m. 2007)

• Children: None, but has two stepdaughters

1. Stepdaughter - Yael Goldstein Love (b. 1978)
2. Stepdaughter- Danielle Blau

• Alma Mater: Dawson College, McGill University, Harvard University
• Awards:

1. Troland Award (1993, National Academy of Sciences),
2. Henry Dale Prize (2004, Royal Institution),
3. Walter P. Kistler Book Award (2005),
4. Humanist of the Year award (2006, issued by the AHA),
5. George Miller Prize (2010, Cognitive Neuroscience Society)
6. Richard Dawkins Award (2013)

• Website: www.stevenpinker.com
• Steven Pinker is known for: his research-centric writings on language, mind and human nature.
• Steven Pinker is criticized for: offering insufficient empirical proof in support of many of his theories.
• Steven Pinker was influenced by: Noam Chomsky, Thomas Sowell, Leda Cosmides, John Tooby, Richard Dawkins, Thomas Schelling
• Steven Pinker’s works inspired: NA

Quotes

“Just as blueprints don't necessarily specify blue buildings, selfish genes don't necessarily specify selfish organisms. As we shall see, sometimes the most selfish thing a gene can do is build a selfless brain. Genes are a play within a play, not the interior monologue of the players.” ― Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works

Major Works

• The Language Instinct (1994)
• How the Mind Works (1997)
• Words and Rules (2000)
• The Blank Slate (2002)
• The Stuff of Thought (2007)
• The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011)
• The Sense of Style (2014)

Did You Know?

• Steven Pinker grew up in Montreal’s English-speaking Jewish community.  
• His grandparents are the immigrants of Poland and Romania.
• Pinker is the oldest of three children born to Harry and Roslyn Pinker.
• His father was a lawyer and his mother was a housewife, high school vice principal, and a guidance counselor.
• Pinker’s younger sister Susan Pinker is a psychologist and writer.
• Steven Pinker married thrice. He firstly married to Psychologist Nancy Etcoff in 1980 and divorced in 1992. Afterwards, he married the Malaysian-born cognitive psychologist Ilavenil Subbiah in 1995 but again divorced in 2006. At present he is married to the American philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein.
• Pinker doesn't have any children from any of his marriages.
• He has two stepdaughters from his third wife: Yael Goldstein Love, a novelist and Danielle Blau, a poet.
• Steven Pinker received a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1976 from McGill University.
• Pinker earned a doctorate degree in experimental psychology at Harvard in 1979.
• He undertook research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) for about one year and subsequently became an assistant professor at both Harvard (1980–1981) and Stanford University (1981–1982).
• Pinker rejoined Harvard University in 2003, this time, however, as a full professor.
• He was a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize: in 1998 for How the Mind Works and in 2003 for The Blank Slate.
• In the year 2004, Time Magazine listed him amongst the 100 most influential thinkers and scientists in the world.
• Pinker is the Chair of the Usage Panel of The American Heritage Dictionary.
• Currently Pinker lives in Boston and in Truro with Rebecca Goldstein.

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B. F. Skinner Quotes

B. F. SKINNER (1904 –1990), A LEADING 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST, PHILOSOPHER, INVENTOR AND POET.

"The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do."

~ B. F. Skinner, The Technology of Teaching

"It is a mistake to suppose that the whole issue is how to free man. The issue is to improve the way in which he is controlled."

 ~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"The only geniuses produced by the chaos of society are those who do something about it. Chaos breeds geniuses. It offers a man something to be a genius about."

 ~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"No one asks how to motivate a baby. A baby naturally explores everything it can get at, unless restraining forces have already been at work. And this tendency doesn't die out, it's wiped out."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"Going out of style isn't a natural process, but a manipulated change which destroys the beauty of last year's dress in order to make it worthless."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"Some of us learn control, more or less by accident. The rest of us go all our lives not even understanding how it is possible, and blaming our failure on being born the wrong way."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"A person who has been punished is not thereby simply less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment."

~ B. F. Skinner, Beyond Freedom and Dignity

"The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man."

~ B. F. Skinner, Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis

"What is love except another name for the use of positive reinforcement? Or vice versa."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"At this very moment enormous numbers of intelligent men and women of goodwill are trying to build a better world. But problems are born faster than they can be solved."    

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"The amateur doesn't appreciate the need for experimentation. He wants his experts to know."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"Nowadays, everybody fancies himself an expert in government and wants to have a say."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"The final state of affairs may not have been foreseen. Perhaps we are merely reading a plan into the world after the fact."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"In a democracy, there is no check against despotism, because the principle of democracy is supposed to be itself a check. But it guarantees only that the majority will not be despotically ruled."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"Democracy is the spawn of despotism. And like father, like son. Democracy is power and rule. It's not the will of the people, remember; it's the will of the majority."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"Men build society and society builds men."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"A scientist may not be sure of the answer, but he's often sure he can find one. And that's a condition which is clearly not enjoyed by philosophy."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"The tender sentiment of the 'one and only' has less to do with constancy of heart than with singleness of opportunity."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"A fourth-grade reader may be a sixth-grade mathematician. The grade is an administrative device which does violence to the nature of the developmental process."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"We are only just beginning to understand the power of love because we are just beginning to understand the weakness of force and aggression."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"Something doing every minute' may be a gesture of despair--or the height of a battle against boredom."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"But restraint is the only one sort of control, and absence of restraint isn't freedom. It's not control that's lacking when one feels 'free', but the objectionable control of force."

~ B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

"It is a surprising fact that those who object most violently to the manipulation of behaviour nevertheless make the most vigorous effort to manipulate minds."

~ B. F. Skinner, Beyond Freedom and Dignity

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