Skinner, from Paranjpe
(1998). Self and
Identity in modern psychology and Indian thought.
Denial of self (and
soul) like Meyer's (1922)
Psychology of the Other-One, Skinner also brings in God,
like Bacon, giving a mandate for dominion over nature - control.
"Much of my scientific position
seems to have begun
as Presbyterian theology, not too far removed from
the Congregational of Jonathan Edwards."
(Skinner, 1983,cited
by Paranjpe, 1998, p.108)
Here
Paranjpe shows that it is an interpretation of Edward's doctrine of predestination
(of a determined system) into secular forms where he could say:
by
the time I finished the book I actually did not feel that
I had written it. . . . My book was the inevitable consequence
of what had happened to me and of what I had read."
(Skinner, 1983,cited by Paranjpe,
1998, p.108)
Paranjpe
also points out that Skinner admits that his own
views parallel those of Thomas à Kampis - a late
medieval
Christian author. Self denial, refraining from self-interest
are
seen in his work, and show that:
"self-possession
comes from self-abandonment . . . .
a strong theme in Eastern mysticism."
(Skinner, 1983,cited by Paranjpe,
1998, p.109)
Terms:
doctrine of predestination