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Victor Kumar's avatar

Great essay. But doesn’t the distinction between actual cause and background condition just depend on our interests (our expectations, goals, contrasts, etc.)?

Why do you know the rules of pickleball (and I don’t)? Because someone told you the rules (and didn’t tell me).

Why do you know the rules of pickleball (and your dog doesn’t)? Because of your natural cognitive abilities (that she lacks, though they told her the rules too).

(Your example was of a seemingly learned trait. The developmental systems theorist says that putatively innate traits depend on the environment too, you would say as “background conditions.”)

This makes it seem like the answer to “Nature or environment?” isn’t objective, and therefore not a good scientific question.

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Jack Morris's avatar

Nature is the stock, nurture is the flow. Today’s nurture is tomorrow’s nature.

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