If man is essentially nonmoral, what then is the “good”? In Skinner’s view the good, or rather those things we call good, are positive reinforcers, and those things we call bad or evil are negative reinforcers. Putting it plainly, he says, “Epicurus was not quite right: pleasure is not the ultimate good, pain the ultimate evil; the only good things are positive reinforcers, and the only bad things are negative reinforcers.”35 Skinner describes what he means by “reinforcing”: When a bit of behavior
Page 27