Autonomous man is a euphemism for free will. Skinner elaborates that autonomous man arises from ignorance, that he functions to explain the yet-unexplainable: “He initiates, originates, and creates, and in doing so he remains, as he was for the Greeks, divine. We say that he is autonomous—and, so far as a science of behavior is concerned, that means miraculous” (14).

Skinner refutes free will or autonomous man. Instead, he argues for behavioral determinism, which is a subsect of determinism, or the philosophical view that every event is caused by preceding and environmental factors. While modern behavioral determinism generally recognizes the importance of internal states such as thoughts and emotions on behavior, Skinner rejects this in favor of a psychological behaviorist approach. He demands behavioral evidence and regards internal states as irrelevant by-products. While humanity has operated on the assumption that autonomous man exists, Skinner claims that by rejecting free will and accepting behavioral determinism, humans can act to correct humanitarian and environmental issues.

Chapters 2 through 5 examine how autonomous man has resulted in the destructive and inhibitory concepts of freedom, dignity, punishments, and other socially acceptable methods of behavioral control.