Many psychologists are envious of the prestige—and the achievements—of the
physical sciences, which they try not to emulate, but to imitate. [B.F.]
Skinner is archetypical in this respect: he is passionately intent on being
accepted as a “scientist” and complains that only [the concept of] “Autonomous
Man” stands in the way of such acceptance (which, I am sure, is true). Mr.
Skinner points out scornfully that primitive men, who were unable to see the
difference between living beings and inanimate objects, ascribed the objects’
motions to conscious gods or demons, and that science could not begin until
this belief was discarded. In the name of science, Mr. Skinner switches
defiantly to the other side of the same basic coin: accepting the belief that
consciousness is supernatural, he refuses to accept the existence of man’s
mind.