Everyone has heard the argument about nature versus nurture, which means does the biological background dominate or does the environment dominate?
Although this argument has a long history, there has never been a real dichotomy.
Anyone who works in biology knows that it is not a dichotomy but an interaction, nature and nurture.
We are a product of what we are biologically as well as of the environment we have been exposed to over the course of our lives.
Our society seems to have rejected the middle ground where biology and environ‒ ment are seen as integrally linked, arguing that it has to be all one or the other.
Nothing is ever likely to be all one thing or another; it is usually a mixture of many things.
If everything were based on the environment, we could say that someone who has had a terrible upbringing and was physically abused and grew up in poverty would definitely end up being a criminal, but this is certainly not the case.
Many contributing members of society come from just such backgrounds; conversely, many criminals come from excellent homes.
Assuming that it is all society or all biology is simply wrong, and no scientist accepts the argument.