Maimonides on Reinforcement

Maimonides, a Medieval Jewish philosopher ( 12th century ) and a Torah scholar on the workings of positive reinforcement

”
. Imagine  a small  child  who  has been
brought to his teacher so that he may be taught
the Torah, which is his ultimate good because
it will  bring  him  to  perfection.  However,  be-
cause he is only a child and because his under-
standing is deficient, he does not grasp the true
value of  that good, nor does he understand the
perfection  which he  can  achieve  by  means  of
Torah. Of  necessity, therefore, his teacher, who
has acquired greater  perfection  than the child,
must  bribe him to  study  by  means  of  things
which  the child loves in a childish way. Thus,
the teacher may say, “Read  and I will give you
some  nuts  or  figs;  I  will  give you  a  bit  of
honey.” With this stimulation the child tries to
read.  He  does  not  work  hard  for  the sake  of
reading itself, since he does not understand  its
value. H e  reads in order to obtain the food. ,
As  the  child  grows  and  his  mind  improves,
what was  formerly  important  to  him  loses  its
importance,  while  other  things  become  pre-
cious.  The  teacher will  stimulate  his desire
for whatever  he wants then. The teacher may
say  to  the  child,  “Read  and  I  will  give you
beautiful shoes or nice clothes.” Now the child
will  apply  himself  to reading  for  the sake  of
new  clothes  and  not  for  the  sake of  study  it-
self. . . . As his intelligence improves still more
and  these things, too, become unimportant  to
him, he  will set his desire  upon something of
greater value.  Then  his  teacher  may  say  to
him,  “Learn this  passage  or  this  chapter,  and
I will give you  a denar or two.” Again  he will
try to read in order to receive the money, since
money  is more  important  to  him  than study.
The end which he seeks to achieve through his
study is  to acquire the money which has been
promised  him. When his understanding has so
improved  that  even  this reward  has  ceased  to
be  valuable to him,  he will desire  something
more honorable. His  teacher  may  say  to  him
then, “Study so that you may become the presi-
dent  of  a  court,  a  judge,  so  that  people  will
honor  you  and rise  before  you as  they  honor
So-and-so.” He will  then  try  hard  to  read  in
order to attain his new goal. His final end then
will  be  to  achieve  the honor,  the  exaltation,
and the praise which others might confer upon
him.
Now,  all  this  is  deplorable.  However,  it  is
unavoidable  because of  man’s  limited  insight,
as  a result  of  which  he  makes  the  goal  of
wisdom  something  other  than  wisdom itself,
and  assumes that the  purpose  of  study  is  the
acquisition  of  honor,  which makes  a mockery
of  truth. Our sages called this learning not for
its own sake. . . .”
Reference:

‘Isadore  Twersky (Ed.), A  Maimonides  Reader. New
York: Behrman  House,  1972. Pp. 404-407.

—
Sridhar Mudhan, Board Certified Behavior analyst, India Mobile : +91 9538001515