PROBLEMATIC PROGRESS: A REVIEW OF LAUDAN'S PROGRESS AND ITS PROBLEMS AND SCIENCE AND VALUES1

Abstract

The situation in psychology is troubling.Skinner, reflecting on recent trends, has de- clared, "Psychology as a science is, in fact, in shambles" (1983, p. 9).Concern with recent historical developments in psychology has been amply evident in many recent reviews in the Journal ofthe Experimental Analysis ofBehavior that have explored historical and conceptual aspects of behavior analysis and examined re- lations to other perspectives.Collectively, the many strands of these reviews reflect a pro- found-albeit often indirect-effort to come to grips with the current fortunes of behaviorism.We believe the work of Laudan, a contem- porary philosopher of science, can provide a unifying framework for directly addressing these issues and pulling together many of the distinct strands of the historical concerns of behavior analysts.Two aspects of Laudan's philosophy of science are of particular interest in this regard.First, Laudan, along with other post-Kuhnian philosophers of science, provides a critique of the Kuhnians' account of scientific change and presents a "gradualist's" alternative to their revolutionary model.Like the Kuhnians, Lau- dan recognizes that conceptual issues play a particularly important role in the competition I Laudan, L. (1977).Progress and its problems: Toward a theory of scientific growth.Berkeley, CA:

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