Transcript Nature vs. Nurture

Nature vs. Nurture-2
What makes us human?
Nurturist position: Beyond Human Nature by Jesse J. Prinz -- Norton
Fall 2016
D.D. Reeder
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History
Inheritance
Acquired characteristics (education.. financial (tax)
Physical characteristics (height, color…..)
Transmission to later generations?
1809 Lamarck
proposed inheritance of both physical and acquired features.
~1850 Mendel demonstrated “regularities” in inheritance
Risk
Probability
~1900 no biological mechanism for inheritance (Darwin stumped)
~1910 Connected through the gametes (fertilized ovum)
“gene” -- means transmitted traits
Cellular inheritance
transmission of characteristics from cell to cell within the organism.
(DNA + epigenetic marks!)
Fall 2016
D.D. Reeder
2
Mendel ~1850
Interspecies breeding (F1 hybrids)
Domestication and breeding within species
Law of Segregation
Law of Independent Assortment
Law of Dominance
Inheritance passed by genes
Fall 15
PLATO
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Pseudo-Science
Physiognomy
Phrenology
Craniometry
Eugenics
IQ
Race
Fall 2016
1796 Gall
1994 “ The Bell Curve”
D.D. Reeder
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Why two sexes?
Originally only one sex (asexual reproduction … cloning_..)
mitosis
~ complete inheritance
> 1 sex ?
Energetically costly
Reproduction is slower
Fitness penalty
Repair of genetic information (mutation)
Rapid adjustment to environment
Food chain requires constant change for continuation
One large gamete (ova) …..... energy production for mitosis
Many small gametes (sperm)
LBGTI Spectrum (Rainbow?)
Fall 2016
D.D. Reeder
5
Extremes
Nature: total Genetic determinism
(deterministic)
Nurture: “Blank Slate” (nothing genetic)
(only physical phenotypes are heritable)
Truth is in between
– but this obvious answer is insufficient.
Mendel -- “laws” of inheritabilty
Driesch – established cell differentiation
genetics
epigenetics
Trait appearing “innate” or “instinctive” is NOT determined
solely from our genes (may still not be learned)
Fall 2016
D.D. Reeder
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