From behavioral hell to educated hedonism: Contributions of an itinerary of conceptual clarification

Abstract

This essay aims to shed light on the contributions to the conceptual framework of Skinner’s consequentialist theory of behavior presented in the book Comportamento e sensi­bilidade: Vida, prazer e ética, by professor José Antonio Damásio Abib. In this itinerary, we follow Abib in his conceptual clarification on the concept of behavior and its relationship with the world, movement and sensitivity. Then, in his proposal of a hedonistic theory of reinforcement, a condition for the reconfiguration of the model of selection by consequences and for the outline of an ethical project of education of sensitivity that values pleasure and the potential to build cultural practices towards human development and justice. Finally, based on the Abib’s concept of behavioral hell, I establish relations between contemporary reality and the need to promote creative utopias that help us to overcome the limits of a present that, based on the exploitation of the dispossessed for the pleasure of the propertied classes, persist through time.