Instrumentality and coherence of the concept of private events

Abstract

Behavior analysis distinguishes itself from other behaviorist approaches in the treatment it offers to the issue of subjectivity, which includes the use of the concept of private events. Since behavior analysis has been related to pragmatism, on the basis of the criteria used to validate scientific concepts and propositions, this paper discusses the scientific character of the concept of private events in the light of those criteria. The paper presents James’s and Rorty’s statements concerning the relation between instrumentality and coherence in the validation of concepts and propositions. Those statements are used as a reference to the analysis of the validity of the concept of private events in the treatment of problems related to subjectivity, considering on two problems: a) the lack of a consensus about the concept’s coherence with the behavior-analytic explanatory system; and b) the functions of the concept. We argue that behavior analysts have used the concept of private events under the control of phenomena of variable complexity, which might explain the lack of consensus about its coherence with the behavior-analytic explanatory system. When some sort of consensus about its coherence is reached, it lacks about its instrumentality. Thus, the recognition of coherence and instrumentality of the concept is dependent on the emission of the verbal response “private events” under the control of specific classes of events.