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The \u2018nature versus nurture\u2019 \u2018debate\u2019 in psychology reminds me of the \u2018free will versus determinism\u2019 perspectives in philosophy. [This is probably because my focus is rooted in philosophy though!] The biological \/ nativists and behaviorists are far more aligned than the spectrum suggested in the text which places them at opposite ends. I tend towards determinism, though I like to present myself as a soft-determinist or compatibilist. I readily accept Kant\u2019s rebuke of this as \u201cwretched subterfuge\u201d! I am a hard-determinist, but I lack the conviction to come out and say such. Daniel Dennett is way better at rationalizing (and explaining) compatibilism than I am. That giant empty space above determinism representing the great unknown (and, from my perspective, unknowable) weakens my confidence in hard determinism \u00af\\_(\u30c4)_\/\u00af.<\/p>\n
We are \u2018meat puppets\u2019 (or wind-up toys) who are biologically predetermined to react (and importantly \u2013 perceive) in a specific set of ways given set stimulus. The environment is the determinant of how our biological wiring expresses itself. Am I comfortable thinking about life (specifically my own) this way? Not really. Which is why I try not to obsess over it too much. My \u2018out\u2019 is there is so much I don\u2019t know, and I comfort myself with the belief that much of it is unknowable as well.<\/p>\n
I get the attraction of the idea of \u2018free will\u2019 \/ personal agency. It is, assuredly, unsettling to think of oneself as nothing more than pre-written code being executed within a larger pre-written program. I also (like to try at least to) share the optimism of the humanistic approach, though the post-modern facet of it is like \u2018nails on a chalkboard\u2019 to me. The bigger problem is the inherent contradiction:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ecrisis\/files\/2022\/08\/Capture2-300x146.png\")
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I do not understand how we can have both an \u201cinnate need\u201d (and drive) and assume we have \u201cfree will\u201d. Accepting my limitations, maybe someone can \u2018explain this to me like I am five\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2026 kenny<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The \u2018nature versus nurture\u2019 \u2018debate\u2019 in psychology reminds me of the \u2018free will versus determinism\u2019 perspectives in philosophy. [This is probably because my focus is rooted in philosophy though!] The biological \/ nativists and behaviorists are far more aligned than the spectrum suggested in the text which places them at opposite ends. I tend towards … Continue reading Nature V Nurture<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5240,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[219806],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ecrisis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ecrisis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ecrisis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ecrisis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5240"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ecrisis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ecrisis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ecrisis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ecrisis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ecrisis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ecrisis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ecrisis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}