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Nature, Nurture, and the Cognitive Transcendence of Man

Nature, Nurture, Transcendence..2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ABSTRACT 3

CHAPTER I: THE "NATURE/NURTURE" ARGUMENT 6

CHAPTER II: GENETIC VS. SOCIO ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES 8

CHAPTER III: PIAGET'S PERSPECTIVE ON COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 15
CHAPTER IV: VYGOTSKY'S VIEW ON LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT 21
CHAPTER V: NATURE'S CLONES: THE TWIN STUDIES 37

CHAPTER VI: THE SYNAPTIC ORGANIZATIONS OF THE BRAIN 64
CHAPTER VII: THE 70/30 RATIO? 79
CHAPTER VIII: TRANCENDANCE FACTORS OF MAN 80
CONCLUSION 105
REFERENCES 114

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ABSTRACT

Do the behaviors that people display arise from the caring and nurturing a person might or might not have been given early on in life by our parents or caregivers? Or are they hardwired in and predetermined by our genes? While it's visually clear that our physical characteristics are through hereditary, the genetic waters get a bit murkier when it comes to individual behavior, intelligence, and personality. What percentage of a child's cognitive development is attributed through the genetics of DNA, and how much influence does life's experiences and the environment play in "molding" a person. Ultimately, the old argument of nature vs. nurture has never really been won. But we do know that each composes a vital part in brain development and behavior. Nature endows us with inborn abilities and traits; nurture takes these genetic tendencies and molds them as we learn and mature.

This question of whether we are determined by our genes or our environment is, however, misleading. We are, as many have observed in recent years, shaped by both. But we are also defined by our ability to transcend both. Unlike any other creature, humans have developed the capacity to overcome the constraints imposed both by our genetic and our cultural heritage. It is not that human beings have floated free of the laws of causation. It is rather that humans are not simply the passive end result of a chain of causes, whether natural or environmental. We have developed the capacity actively to

Nature, Nurture, Transcendence..4

intervene in both nature and culture, to shape both to our will. The development of science requires mental skills, many of which are evolved adaptations. But it also
requires us to transcend those adaptations. Our evolutionary ancestry unquestionably helped influence the way that we humans have approached the world. But it does not limit it absolutely, as it does for all other animals.

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