Nature, Nurture, and the Disunity of Knowledge (original) (raw)

Nature-Nurture? No: Moving the Sciences of Variation and Heredity Beyond the Gaps (Introduction)

Almost every day we hear that some trait "has a strong genetic basis" or "of course it is a combination of genes and environment, but the hereditary component is sizeable." To say No to Nature-Nurture is to reject this relative weighting of heredity and environment. This book shows that partitioning the variation observed for any trait into a heritability fraction and other components provides little clear or useful information about the genetic and environmental influences. A key move this book makes is to distill the issues into eight conceptual and methodological gaps that need attention. Some gaps should be kept open; others should be bridged-or the difficulty of doing so should be conceded. Previous researchers and commentators have either not acknowledged all the gaps, not developed the appropriate responses, or not consistently sustained their responses. Indeed, despite decades of contributions to nature-nurture debates, some fundamental problems in the relevant sciences have been overlooked. When all the gaps are given proper attention, the limitations of human heritability studies become clear. They do not provide a reliable basis for genetic research that seeks to identify the molecular variants associated with trait variation, for assertions that genetic differences in many traits come, over people's lifetimes, to eclipse environmental differences and that the search for environmental influences and corresponding social policies is unwarranted, or for sociological research that focuses on differences in the experiences of members of the same family. Saying No is saying Yes to interesting scientific and policy questions about heredity and variation. To move beyond the gaps is to make space for fresh inquiries in a range of areas: in various sciences, from genetics and molecular biology to epidemiology and agricultural breeding; in history, philosophy, sociology, and politics of the life and social sciences; and in engagement of the public in discussion of developments in science.

Nature or Nurture – Will Epigenomics Solve the Dilemma?

Studia Humana, 2016

The concept of “nature and nurture” is used to distinguish between genetic and environmental influences on the formation of individual, mainly behavioral, traits. Different approaches that interpret nature and nurture as completely opposite or complementary aspects of human development have been discussed for decades. The paper addresses the most important points of nature vs nurture debate from the perspective of biological research, especially in the light of the recent findings in the field of epigenetics. The most important biological concepts, such as the trait, phenotype and genotype, as well as the evolution of other crucial notions are presented. Various attempts to find the main source of human variation are discussed - mainly the search for structural variants and the genome-wide association studies (GWAS). A new approach resulting from the discovery of “missing heritability”, as well as the current knowledge about the possible influence of epigenetic mechanisms on human t...

The Future Is and Is Not the Past Heredity, Epigenetics, and the Developmental Turn

The rate at which new genetic technologies are becoming available to the public is far outpacing our ability as a society to respond meaningfully to the ethical and practical challenges these technologies pose. The benefits of genetic tests for various disease risks, for example, may seem obvious. Yet, some experts suggest that because of the complex interdependence between genetics, environment, and lifestyle these tests have little clinical relevance (Hirschler, 2007). Another concern is the prospect that this technology will facilitate the sort of creeping medicalization that has characterized the marketing of pharmaceuticals in recent years. How long before genomics companies claim to have identified genetic markers for traits that some may deem undesirable, such as shortness, intellectual mediocrity, and homosexuality? Such tests would facilitate a hi-tech, market-driven eugenics, and force on society a set of choices for which we may not be prepared. In order to frame an adequate response to this challenge, I believe, we must examine the logic implicit within the standard model of heredity and recognize its essential limitations.