Seeing the World Through a Third Eye: Developmental Systems Theory Looks Beyond the Nativist-Empiricist Debate (original) (raw)

2009, Child Development Perspectives

In response to the commentaries on our paper (Spencer et al., 2009) we summarize what a developmental systems perspective offers for a twenty-first century science of development by highlighting five insights from developmental systems theory. Where applicable, the discussion is grounded in a particular example-the emergence of ocular dominance columns in early development. Ocular dominance columns are a paragon of epigenesis and are inconsistent with the nativist view. We conclude with optimism that developmental science can move beyond the nativist-empiricist debate armed with both modern technological tools and strong theory to guide their use. Lively debate is the lifeblood of good science, and we thank all the individuals who took the time to write commentaries in response to our paper (2009). Our central theme was that it is high time to move beyond the nativist-empiricist debate and the dichotomous thinking that epitomizes it. Several of the commentaries illustrate how difficult this will be. For example, Landau (2009) argues that even we nonnativists must posit "building blocks" and "primitives"; she cannot imagine the construction of a developmental theory without them. Marcus (2009), by contrast, assigns us to the empiricist camp, as, to a degree, does Karmiloff-Smith (2009), despite explicit statements in our essay to the contrary. In Marcus's view, "To really advance the debate, each side will need to recognize the insights of the other." But, again, we are not trying to advance the debate. We are trying to dismantle it. We are advocating a shift in thinking away from dichotomies toward an appreciation of the full complexity of developmental process at multiple levels and time scales.

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