The arguments put forward about whether human beings behave in the way they do because of their genetic make-up and instincts or because of the way they are educated and the influences they are exposed to when they are young.
A term first coined by Sir Francis GALTON (1822-1911) for a controversial question: whether humans’ nature their genetic make-up or nurture the influence of their environment, both physical and social affects them most. Gabon vigorously opposed the belief, then widely held at the end of the 19th century, that all babies were born equal and subsequently diverged in response to their upbringing and surroundings. He was convinced that humans had different inherent potential and that these differences could be affected but not eradicated. Nineteenth-century philosopher John Stuart Mill, on the other hand, while not denying that some part of the variation between humans may be innate, believed strongly that education played the much bigger part.
There are human characteristics that are clearly and unarguably genetically transmitted, the physical differences between Asians and Caucasians, for example. But other characteristics are not so obviously uncontroversial. For example, a major matter of concern in the nature- nurture debate has been about intelligence: Are we born with a fixed value for our intelligence quotient, or can IQ be raised or lowered by experience, education, and training? It is an important question because its answer can influence the educational policy of a nation or authority, and often has done. The effects may spread even wider. Gabon, acting on his belief, originated the eugenics movement to improve the quality of the nation’s men and women by selective breeding and sought to find a way of measuring intelligence to be able to select the breeding stock. Today, a century later, argument continues, with the two sides as polarized as ever. But there is now a third position in the debate: Some participants now believe, to quote Raymond E. Fancher, “that interactions are so variable and so ubiquitous as to make futile any discussion of heredity and environment as separate factors.” He stated, “Thus most investigators now recognize that there is not, and never can be, any universal or final answer to the nature-nurture question with respect to intelligence.”