Abstract

TOURINHO, Emmanuel Zagury. Functional detachment and the analysis of human behavior. Acta comport. [online]. 2015, vol.23, n.1, pp. 72-78. ISSN 0188-8145.

The paper discusses Ribes’s (2015) concept of functional disconnection as a reference to identify the efficient cause of behavior, under Aristotle’s theory on the causes of phenomena. Ribes’s reasoning addresses the links among diverse relational systems, whose interactions give rise to conditionality contexts for (triple contingency) relationships typically investigated by the science of behavior. It, thus, asserts the dynamical and processual features of behavioral phenomena, and provides a comprehensive frame for research development in this field. Additionaly, it raises concerns about dimensions that centrally define the philosophy of the science of behavior, and impacts its development and contribution to culture in ways not yet fully examined. I discuss here three of these dimensions, stimulated by Ribes’s analysis: the distinction between universe and environment, the notion of behavioral reactivity, and the probabilism implied in selectionism as a causal mode.

Keywords : Behavior Analysis; human behavior; functional disconnection.

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