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Aristotle-No One is Just or Unjust through Nature but Nurture

The discussion about nature vs. nurture focuses on the contributions of environmental factors and genetics in human development. The main question here has to do with if development is mainly influenced by nurture or nature. Nature is the biological inheritance of the organism while nurture is the environmental experiences. Nurture also expands to entail the influences that come from prenatal, parental, peer experiences, and distance families. Aristotle theorized that human beings are born with a blank slate. This means that people are born without having knowledge and they acquire it through personal experiences. Aristotle proposed that environment is an important determinant of behavior. His theory has impacted many empiricists over the years. The nature vs. nurture debate dates as far back as the 300 BC to Plato’s and Socrates time (Misawa, 906). The two were Greeks who came up with the notion that our ideas, characteristics, and thoughts are inborn. To refute this notion, Aristotle came up with the concept of empiricism, also known as nurture. Aristotle described the theory of nurture as the knowledge that is obtained through senses and experiences. Aristotle argues that no human being is just of unjust in nature. On the contrary, human beings tend to be just or just as a result of how they have been trained.

Without a doubt, Aristotle’s theory of nurture applies to the context of modern family in many ways. Taking the example of a child who is born into a family of sportspeople whose father was soccer player in college and mother an ice skater. Despite their career ending, they continued practicing sports during their free time because they it was their passion. Upon getting to an appropriate age to play sports, the child’s parents enroll her in a sporting team. However, the child’s true interest ins in music. She convinces her parents that her interest is in music and luckily they enroll her. After following her true passion, her she begins to build a career in music. Had the parents denied her request, her environment would have nurtured her into a refined athlete. This shows that nurture is responsible for people’s characteristics, thoughts and ideas.

Works Cited

Misawa, Koichiro. “Nature and nurture.” International Handbook of Philosophy of Education. Springer, Cham, 2018. 905-919.