Nature Versus Nurture

To what degree to which is human behavior either genetically determined or established by culture? See also: Nature versus nurture, Cultural universal

This point is strongly contested because it has political implications. If human behavior is entirely a consequence of culture, than bad behavior such as violence, greed and competitiveness is a consequence of bad culture, and humanity can be arbitrarily perfected by altering culture somehow. If humans are instinctively selfish, greedy, competitive and violent, then perhaps we live in the best of all possible worlds. A “nature” stance is seen as conservative and a “nurture” stance is felt to be progressive or liberal.

Behavioral Genetics has contributed some solid evidence. Measurable aspects of behavior such as intelligence and personality have been found to be strongly inherited. We now know that the theories that all humans have equal mental potential and that pretty much everything is determined by the environment are wrong. But…

So what?

• The theory that all humans are equal never made any biological sense because evolution needs variation to work.
• This supports pre-modern popular understandings of intelligence and personality that were never really displaced in popular awareness.
• The equality theory is substantially technically correct and is morally correct. The fact remains that all humans are very similar to each other and we should strive to give everyone equal opportunity to develop whatever their potential is.