The logical character of the motivation concept. II.

Abstract

I. IMPLICIT DEFINITIONS OF MOTIVATION 127 * By a 'complete' postulate set, we mean one capable of generating theorems adequate to the description of all phenomena in the field to which it pertains. Completeness is one of the three criteria which an ideal postulate set is expected to satisfy (the others are consistency and independence). Katsoff (xo) has scolded Hull for not attempting to demonstrate the completeness of the postulate sets which he uses. But, unfortunately, there is no a priori technique for proving the completeness of empirical postulate sets; one can only keep on patiently deriving and verifying theorems. * Hull's three published 'miniature systems'have been devoted to: (i) rote learning (6); (2) adaptive behavior (7); (3) stimulus equivalence (8). A fourth, but not so very miniature, system on rote learning (9) has appeared since this article was written. * 'Si 1 was called 'S,' in this article. Hull had equated '5,' and 'purpose' at this point. In a later article (4) Hull renamed 'S,,' 'Sj' and equated purpose not with 'Sd' but with 'TO-'

Psychology, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science: Reflections on the History and Philosophy of Experimental Psychology

“…Hull remained a materialistic realist devoted to providing a realist interpretation of his unobservables. Nonetheless, Hull's students and colleagues, including G. Bergmann and K. Spence (1941), and S. Koch (1941Koch ( , 1964, interpreted him as a devotee of logical empiricism. Koch (1964) used the presumed connection between Hullian behaviorism and logical empiricism as part of an argument to the effect that since logical empiricism had been discredited, Hull's behaviorism was discredited, too.…”

The nature of theory construction in contemporary psychology.

“…He believes the data from these studies will mirror the functions obtaining between the experimental (empirical) and intervening (theoretical) variables. 9 Quite in contrast to such an approach, Hull has ventured to make guesses as to the precise nature of the functions introducing the intervening variables in his theoretical formulations. Thus he has attempted to formulate the basic laws of' simple adaptive behavior (learning) by introducing a number of intervening variables.…”

Sigmund Koch—philosophically speaking.

“…In January and March of 1941, Sigmund Koch published two lengthy articles in Psychological Review in which he closely analyzed the concept of motivation in psychology and submitted that concept to what, at the time, were the rigors of philosophical analysis in the positivist tradition (Koch, 1941a, 1941b). Reflecting on those articles 36 years later, he said that they “stand up as the silliest and most superficial documents I have ever written: They fall into a genre that could be characterized as falsetto stipulations of self-righteous but ignorant minds” (Koch, 1999c, p. 32).…”