Instrumental Conditioning and the Concept of the Voluntary

Abstract

Certain recent psychological discoveries have an important bearing on a central philosophical problem. It has been demonstrated that all the paradigms of behavior-heart rate, glandular secretions, blood pressure, etc.,-can be instrumentally conditioned in both animals and men. The general conclusion from these findings is that man can control his involuntary behaviour.1 Since this remarkable conclusion about the voluntariness of behavior is based upon psychological experimentation, it may seem to many that it can be simply dismissed. I shall argue in this paper that there are good reasons to consider the data quite seriously along with the possible conclusions that may be drawn from these data. In the first section I attempt to show how instrumental conditioning and the concept of the voluntary are seen to be directly related. After considering the conceptual links, I turn to the recent experimental data and the implications these data may have for our views on moral responsibility and punishment. Finally, I turn to examine the objections to taking the claims of psychologists too seriously.