A trivia question, the short of which is, was
Fred Skinner a promoter of some sort of vitamin
or megavitamin therapy, and if so, does somebody
have a reference?
The long of it is that I'm reading a book, rather
good overall, on the history of science and
music, in which the author defends "crackpot"
ideas held by various scientists on the grounds
that "free inquiry has always embraced the
freedom to be wrong, sometimes wildly wrong."
the author's examples include Kepler's astrology,
Newton's "alchemy" [but not his analysis of the
Bible] and Fred Hoyle's "heterodox views on extra-
terrestrial life." These I do know about, but the
book also asks rhetorically, "Are B. F. Skinner's
contributions to modern psychology tainted
by his zealous proselytizing for vitamin therapy?"
This is news to me -- I did wonder if he was thinking
of Linus Pauling who I seem to remember was a
vitamin C fan.
Ref: James, Jamie. The music of the spheres: music,
science and the natural order of the unverse.
Originally Grove Press: New York, 1993. (I have the
Copernicus [Springer-Verlag] paperback edition, '95)
-David
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David G. Likely, Department of Psychology,
University of New Brunswick
Fredericton, N. B., E3B 5A3 Canada
History of Psychology:
http://www.unb.ca/psychology/likely/psyc4053.htm
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