RE: Nature vs. Nurture
June 16, 2012 at 3:17 pm
(This post was last modified: June 16, 2012 at 3:20 pm by Shell B.)
I've never been one for the age old battle between nature and nurture. I am of the mind that nearly every personality quirk we have is a combination of both. Nature plays a greater role than some would like to admit and, in some cases, vice versa.
I've always loved the serial killer example, as the aspects of the scenarios are so drastic as to make it very clear. There have been connections between abuse, head injury and serial killers. Relatively few serial killers have been subject to both. So, you have head injury as nature and abuse as nurture. Either can have the same result. In some cases, there isn't even a clear cut reason, so we might say genetics or mental illness. Who knows? What we do know is that it can be a combination of nature and nurture, but it is never neither.
Now, in your case, you can form a very good argument against your mother. If both of your parents are/were religious, you might very well have wound up just as you are. Extreme religiosity in a home can often have the opposite effect a parent is hoping for. Two atheists parents can also have a religious child. Perhaps that child felt like it was missing something. The bottom line is, you were born with some things and you were raised the way you have been raised. It is likely a combination of both that made you an atheist. (Remember nurture is sometimes done to oneself. Reading, critical thinking, etc.)
Hmmm. I agree that religion is not something we are born with. However, I do not agree that it is always all taught to us. How did the first religious person come about then? How does a child raised without religion later become religious? The concept of god did not come from the mouth of anyone. It came from someone's mind first. Erroneous thinking or not, it was thinking, not learning, that brought religion into this world.
I've always loved the serial killer example, as the aspects of the scenarios are so drastic as to make it very clear. There have been connections between abuse, head injury and serial killers. Relatively few serial killers have been subject to both. So, you have head injury as nature and abuse as nurture. Either can have the same result. In some cases, there isn't even a clear cut reason, so we might say genetics or mental illness. Who knows? What we do know is that it can be a combination of nature and nurture, but it is never neither.
Now, in your case, you can form a very good argument against your mother. If both of your parents are/were religious, you might very well have wound up just as you are. Extreme religiosity in a home can often have the opposite effect a parent is hoping for. Two atheists parents can also have a religious child. Perhaps that child felt like it was missing something. The bottom line is, you were born with some things and you were raised the way you have been raised. It is likely a combination of both that made you an atheist. (Remember nurture is sometimes done to oneself. Reading, critical thinking, etc.)
(June 16, 2012 at 3:17 pm)Annik Wrote: Nature vs Nature is something that is still debated today.
In matters of religion, it's all nurture. We are taught religion, we are not born with it. :3
Hmmm. I agree that religion is not something we are born with. However, I do not agree that it is always all taught to us. How did the first religious person come about then? How does a child raised without religion later become religious? The concept of god did not come from the mouth of anyone. It came from someone's mind first. Erroneous thinking or not, it was thinking, not learning, that brought religion into this world.
