Blog Post #1- Pinker

Pinker’s argument in his article “Blank Slate” inspired some interesting food for thought, but his ultimate argument that human nature is only determined by our genes, and environment has no impact on who we are, is nonsense.  What was odd was the fact that on page seven of the article, Pinker seems to compromise his stance by stating, “What all this suggests is that children are shaped not by their parents, but in part—but only in part—by their genes; in part by their culture, both the culture of the surrounding society and the children’s own culture, which we condescendingly call their peer group; and in large part by sheer chance—chance events in the development of the brain in utero, such as whether some neurons zigged or zagged at a particular day in brain development, and perhaps chance events in life, such as whether at some point you were chased by a dog, or inhaled a virus, or were dropped on your head, or got the top bunk bed as opposed to the bottom bunk bed.”

This excerpt stood out to me most because out of everything he said, this statement is the one thing I agree with most, and it doesn’t necessarily support his main argument. It is never a good idea to boil complex issues down to a few main ideas. In this instance, I personally think that nature an nurture are both huge factors in shaping who we are, but I also think that understanding what makes individuals tick is such a complex matter that it cannot be defined by two possible explanations. Chance is one of many other causes that could play a factor in shaping behavior, but there could be more. The fact is, we still don’t know everything.

I think these things talked about by Pinker, me just now, and anyone else who puts their ideas down on paper is important because there isn’t a person on the planet who has asked “why” about some facet of human nature. Why do people do bad things? Why do people do good things? Why do I behave the way I do? Understanding the very root of why humans as a whole or why single individuals behave as we do could better facilitate a common ground, which would lead to a lot of improvement on many of the world’s problems. Plus, its just nice to know our place in the world.