Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Life

'Human beings are learning machines,' says philosopher

By Michael Bond

18 January 2012

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Innately curious

(Image: Misha Gravenor for Âé¶¹´«Ã½)

Prevailing wisdom holds that we are born with an innate understanding of the world. Wrong, says philosopher Jesse Prinz, who tells Michael Bond why he thinks many of our “innate” abilities are actually a result of the culture we live in

In your new book you claim that culture rather than biology determines our lives. Hasn’t science moved on from this “nature versus nurture” debate?
I’m not trying to deny the biological contribution to human nature or to overly dichotomise the nature/nurture distinction – everyone recognises that the truth is somewhere in the middle. The point is that…

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