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Nature and Nurture: A False Dichotomy?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Abstract

Nancy Tuana holds that the nature/nurture dichotomy does not accurately represent the world and hence that a whole series of assumptions about human nature is mistaken. She rejects both biological determinism and alternative interactionist views. I argue that although her arguments and political concerns do rule out any kind of simple biological determinism, they do not show that the alternative interactionist view is untenable: in fact, she uses the distinction in her attempt to demolish it. I argue that the assumption that “nature” implies fixity is the source of difficulties here, not the dichotomy itself.

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Copyright
Copyright © 1986 by Hypatia, Inc.

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References

Davenport, Richard. 1979. An outline of animal development. California: Addison‐Wesley.Google Scholar
Nancy, Tuana. 1983. Re‐fusing nature/nuture. Hypatia 3, published as a Special Issue of Women's Studies International Forum 6 (6):621632.Google Scholar