J. R. Kantor's Interbehavioral Psychology and Humanism

Abstract

This paper addresses connections between J. R. Kantor's interbehavioral psychology and humanism. It discusses numerous ways in which interbehavioral thinking is humanistic. Kantor's naturalism and human-oriented historiography have foundations in the original humanism of Hellenic times. His secular orientation, cyclical theory of history, respect for Greek thought, independent critical thinking, and historical inclinations are found as key marks of Renaissance and Enlightenment humanism. Interbehavioral psychology agrees with many features of contemporary humanism by emphasizing (a) the human roots of all constructs, (b) the inseparability of mind-body, (c) holism over reductionism, (d) human as opposed to nonhuman research, (e) the acceptability of nonexperimental research, (f) an evolutional perspective, (g) humans as inevitably linked to a world, (h) human freedom as conditional, and (i) the unity of the sciences and humanities. The major conclusion is that interbehavioral psychology might be especially attractive to those who aspire to a scientific psychology that never ignores essential human characteristics.

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