B. F. Skinner Quotes
To require a citizen to sign a loyalty oath is to destroy some of the loyalty he could otherwise claim, since any subsequent loyal behavior may then be attributed to the oath.
Skinner, B. F. Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Knopf, 1971, p. 55.
of allegiance to the U.S. There were a number of “Copperheads” –Southern sympathizers—in the North, especially those areas that were near borders with Southern States. Some patriots proposed requiring everyone to take an oath—a solution that tends often to be suggested in times of war and strife, but really doesn’t do any good. The real traitors just falsely take the other; others who refuse, do so on principle and are rarely dangerous. Few public men had had the courage to call the process of requiring loyalty oaths absurd as Sherman did in the Civil War. In almost every era of war—cold or hot—there are some people who call for requiring more loyalty oaths and relatively few like Sherman who will publicly admit its futility.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner was an American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher. He was a professor of psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974.
