The Nature vs Nurture Debate has occupied the minds of philosophers and most thinking people for millennia. The stoics reflected on it. The ancient Greeks first linked the two concepts and suggested that they were complimentary.
Nature and Nurture became the popular term in English during the Elizabethan period. The modern phrase became popular after Francis Galton the developer of “Behavioural Genetics” used it
The concept of human minds being blank slates – uninfluenced by nature – heredity or genetics and therefore entirely influenced by nurture – experience and environment – was a contrary view. It was given the term “tabla rosa” or blank slate, by John Locke in 1690 when he published his “An essay about human understanding”.
This is not an academic post and I am not an academic, the information above is merely to give some background to my observations. For detailed explanations of the concepts and the history of the debate visit the Wikipedia page here.
There is also a list of selected books on the subject at the bottom of this post. Please note these are Amazon affiliate links, it will not cost you any more to order books here but I will get a small and very welcome, commission.
Nature vs Nurture – first awareness
I don’t recall thinking about the nature vs nurture debate at school. Even at high school, my thinking powers were not sufficiently developed to consider the concept in any depth. The feeling among most of my classmates was that some boys were luckier than others. Some had brainy parents. The idea of “nurture” except in the very rare case of really bad parenting was not discussed..
However, the debate has occupied my mind since the age of 19 when I went off to start my 9-month army training as a conscripted National Serviceman in Rhodesia. Although by then I had left the farm to work in the city, I still went home every Friday after work and returned to the city on Sunday night or early Monday morning. I had never spent more than a week away from home.
Getting on the train with close to 100 nervous (and in many cases, not very sober) young men gave me my first insight into how people react differently to the same situations. Some of the more nervous types were petrified, hardly able to talk to strangers. At the other end of the scale were those full of bravado (fortified with alcohol no doubt) who acted as if they were going to a holiday camp.
This week I had a meeting with a highly successful business owner who related how in his 30’s, with four children, he took a chance, borrowed a large sum money put up his house as security and gave up his well-paying job to buy a 10% stake in a business. He negotiated a profit split on new business and committed to buying the owner’s 90% within 5 years. He had no clear idea of how he would do that but believed he would. Click To Tweet
Within a year he had increased sales dramatically, paid back the money he had borrowed, unencumbered his house and made a start on buying the owner’s share. Within the agreed 5 years, he was the sole owner of a successful, growing business.
This story is even more remarkable as this business owner is one of four brothers. One brother took over the small family business after a tragedy left it at risk. Overcoming many challenges and serious adversity, this brother took on the established giants of his industry and prevailed.
12 years later, he is the owner of 6 successful businesses and a significant provider of employment.
The Nature vs Nurture debate in families.
Here’s where this story gets really interesting.
There are two other brothers in this family. Both in safe, well-paying jobs. Both have been invited to join the other brother’s businesses on several occasions. Invitations that include ownership stakes and responsibility for running their units.
Neither has made the leap from the known, perceived to be secure, world of the salaried employee to the riskier world of business ownership.
All four have the same nature – same parents and apart from birth order, the same nurture, same upbringing, experiences, environment.
I have seen this scenario play out many times. Two brothers inheriting similar farms, one makes a success of it, the other goes bankrupt within a few years.
Others overcome disadvantages of both nature and nurture to become successful, while others seemingly with advantages in both fail miserably.
Is there a clear, right, answer? A winning side of the debate?
I don’t believe so. I think the dominance of nature vs nurture ebbs and flows with changes in situations, environments, situations and over time. https://peterwrightsblog.com/blog Click To Tweet The significance of a major event 9/11 such as, would probably have a greater effect on a young adult or teenager than his or her younger sibling.
If in the case of two siblings, one has his or her outlook on life affected by an event that leaves the other unmoved, it could set that sibling on a totally different journey through life.
Faith comes into it as well. One sibling with faith in God, faith in the future, faith in his or her abilities may be better at overcoming adversity and life’s challenges than one without.
The nature vs nurture debate – certainly a fascinating subject.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment.
Aristotle photo courtesy morhamedufmg / pixabay