The debate around what motivates the actions that we as humankind take in response to stimuli, if the actions are natural as a result of heritable traits or as a result of nurture the environmental factors that affect us during developmental stages, is one that has concerned some of the world’s greatest minds ,without effective resolution. Depending on one’s perspective it is further conflicted or further extrapolated by the differing disciplines which consider this a key area of study such as psychology, theology, biology and many areas of medical study. In keeping with the modern thought on heritable traits clinical studies that are particularly relevant are often done with monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins in a variety of environmental conditions (Burton, 2006), which are examined, however with a limited depth as dictated by the length of this discussion piece. As with any other area if inquiry this is one where the current ‘accepted’ view is subject to change and has changed many times, any response on this question is one that can not be stated as fact, but as a working hypothesis.
The ‘Nature vs. Nurture’ debate has been an ongoing one with some of the earliest discourse traced back to 380 BC with the dialogue between Socrates and Meno in the classical Greek era (Plato, 2002). Meno’s statement “Can you tell me, Socrates, whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice; or if neither by teaching nor practice, then whether it comes to man by nature, or in what other way?” is clearly addressing the ‘Nature vs. Nurture’ quandary and providing a philosophers rationale and academic logic to establishing that both nature and nurture are parts of mankind however adding that virtue (knowledge/wisdom) is a divine gift.
The debate and theory around this argument however began bearing fruit with the early 20th Century as more clinical applications could surround it. The foundations of the modern perspective of heritability in many ways...