ABSTRACT
The phenomena, the people have studied, then, seem to point, for human and animal behaviour alike, towards an explanation in terms of purpose. The assumption of S–R theory is that in defending behaviourism they are defending the very possibility of a science of behaviour, one whose propositions can be inter-subjectively verified. As a matter of fact, ‘complexity’ in another sense, so far from being an extenuating factor, may be a sign of error. As for the plea of ‘infancy’, one can only answer that it begs the question. But some progress can nevertheless be made, and some rational basis provided for the belief that animate organisms exhibit these special properties, if some of the theories which are founded on the opposite assumption can be shown to be inadequate.
