Abstract

MICHELETTO, Nilza. Philosophical bases of functional relation notion. Rev. bras. ter. comport. cogn. [online]. 2000, vol.2, n.2, pp. 115-121. ISSN 1517-5545.

Brief discussions with the possíbílity of being related to the notion of functional relation are presented, with the purpose of pinpointing some consequences to the comprehension of the notion of functional relation as proposed by Skinner. The use of the concept of relation by some English empiricists is described, as well as the surge of the notion of funetion in natural sciences, strictly connected to biology, and the extension of this notion to psychology, initially in frenology studies, whose objectivist method influences the american experimental psychology; the studies on the funetions of conscience related to William James' evolutive changes; and the notion of funetion in the mathematical sciences adopted by Mach when proposing the notion of functional relation. These several uses for the notion of functional relation are related to that notion presented by Skinner in his work, considering the transformations operating in his explanatory system.

Keywords : functional relation; funetion; behavioral explanation and radical behaviorism.

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