heiss93
22nd October 2010, 02:40
By Soviet Psychology, I'm generally restoring to "orthodox, official" Soviet psychology and not dissident or critical versions. From my readings it seems like Soviet psychology emphasized the scientistic objective materialistic positivist side of Marxism. Palov was obviously the main influence. The anti-Marxist Kolkowski argues that had Pavlov not been a Russian national hero his theory would have been denounced as mechanistic and un-dialectical. I have read some Soviet texts at Leninist.biz however denouncing BF Skinner as a fascist utopian, specifically because of his technotopia warden 2.
Behaviorism was not seen as inherently leftwing during its heydey in the 50s and 60s. Its only after the emergence of the deeply reactionary evolutionary psychology and sociobiology in the 80s, that "blank-slatism" as Pinker calls it has come to be seen as a dogma of the strawman leftist academics. This has perhaps caused some to embrace blank slatism more than neccesary simply to negate sociobiology. Certainly the Marxism of the 2nd international was far more thoroughly Darwinist than Peter Singer's proposed Darwinian left.
Sociocultural historical constructionism is not necessarily a leftwing phenomenom. For example the Neoconservative movement originally began as former leftists turned the tools of sociology against the left suggesting that "culture" and not racism or capitalism was responsible for black poverty. A better example would be George Burke the founder of conservatism. His defense of the ancien regime was not based on biology or original sin, but on the historical evolution of cultural traditions. Precisely because institutions were socially constructed over centuries, it would be dangerous to ever try to change them.
Behaviorism was not seen as inherently leftwing during its heydey in the 50s and 60s. Its only after the emergence of the deeply reactionary evolutionary psychology and sociobiology in the 80s, that "blank-slatism" as Pinker calls it has come to be seen as a dogma of the strawman leftist academics. This has perhaps caused some to embrace blank slatism more than neccesary simply to negate sociobiology. Certainly the Marxism of the 2nd international was far more thoroughly Darwinist than Peter Singer's proposed Darwinian left.
Sociocultural historical constructionism is not necessarily a leftwing phenomenom. For example the Neoconservative movement originally began as former leftists turned the tools of sociology against the left suggesting that "culture" and not racism or capitalism was responsible for black poverty. A better example would be George Burke the founder of conservatism. His defense of the ancien regime was not based on biology or original sin, but on the historical evolution of cultural traditions. Precisely because institutions were socially constructed over centuries, it would be dangerous to ever try to change them.