In Ancient Greece, philosophers were split between two different theories on behaviour.  Some, such as Socrates and Plato, followed nativism and held that the thoughts, ideas, and characteristics of individuals are inborn, ultimately a result of genetics.  Others, including Aristotle, followed empiricism and held that the human mind is a tabula rasa, or blank slate, at birth and that each person is molded by his or her individual experiences.  Today, there is still debate between these two views, albeit in a different form.  Today, the debate is that of “nature v. nurture”, whether genetics and biology or environment and experiences are more influential in determining a person’s behaviour.  Most people would agree that both are important in determining one’s personality.  It seems unlikely, however, that the two have an equally strong influence in every single person. There are certainly some people who are more influenced by their experiences than their biology, and vice versa.

The idea of people’s characteristics being inborn as opposed to that of people being blank slates at birth brings religion to my mind.  Religion itself isn’t the purpose of this post, of course, but I can’t help but wonder what determines what someone believes religiously, if anything at all.  It seems unlikely that belief systems are hardwired into our brains, as nativism would suggest.  Yet, if people know only what was impressed upon their young blank slates of minds, as empiricism suggests, everyone would just be the same religion they were brought up in. That, however, is not the case.  I, myself, was raised as a Catholic, but by the time I was twelve or so, I wanted nothing to do with religion and have been an atheist ever since.

But why did that happen? Why did I stop believing everything I was taught was right? It would seem that, in this respect, my environment and experiences didn’t influence me that much.  The same could be said of most other people who either leave their religion or change it.  At the same time, though, there are those people who believe so steadfastly in what they were taught since childhood that nothing could sway them from their faith.  The early experiences and environments of those people would seem to have had a very large influence on them.  What determines how much a person’s environment affects their personality and their beliefs?  I think a person’s genetic makeup, among many other factors, is important in determining how willing a person is to question the things they were taught as children, rather than blindly believing them.

Ultimately, although “nature and nurture” are certainly both important to each individual’s behaviour and characteristics, I feel that the two are more connected to one another than people give them credit for.  Our genes don’t determine everything about us, but they certainly may determine to what extent our experiences affect us as people.