Genetic Determinism - 2854 Words

Genetic Determinism On Christmas Day in the year 2001, I gave birth to a healthy baby boy. When I looked into the brand-new face of my son I saw a beautiful mystery. I wondered what kind of man my boy would grow to be and what his life would be like. There are those in the scientific community who would argue that my sons path was already determined at the moment of his birth, that his fate could be deciphered from his genetic make-up. As a nurturing mother I know better. At two years old my son has developed a more diverse vocabulary than many children twice or even three times his age. He recognizes many written words and reads them aloud. He is able to spell his name. He can distinguish a square from a rectangle and an octagon†¦show more content†¦Many scholars believe that the new science of behavioral genetics has intellectual roots in the old ideas of Eugenics (Steen 33). Eugenics disguised a political agenda as a scientific one in an attempt to endow discrimination with credibility. Supp orters of genetic determinism theories do the same. Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray defend the theory of genetic determinism in The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, which was published ten years ago. Their book is one of the most widely referenced works regarding the theory that intelligence is inherited. The authors claim that the social order mirrors natural selection, wherein the genetically superior or more intelligent human rises to the top. Of course this means that the lower class, predominantly blacks, are represented as genetically inferior (xxi-xxiii). The authors claim that ethnic differences in cognitive ability are neither surprising nor in doubt (269) and attribute the inequality of life among Americans to inherent differences between races in intelligence (127). Their argument rests on the assertion that intelligence is both inheritable and immutable and is supported by intelligence test scores. The text is full of contradictions an d a close analysis proves it to be lacking in evidence and smacking of social myth. Their theories are developed using speculation and are tainted by bias. There is no science involved. The theory of inherentShow MoreRelatedGenetic Determinism of Human Character Essay640 Words   |  3 Pagesare the products of genetic determinism as well as external environmental factors. â€Å"Single genes can have surprisingly strong influences on particular aspects of behaviour.† (Frank., 2009) Genes build the phenotype of humans as well as the underlying genotype. Competition between cultural genes leads to varied success of genetic determinism. It can therefore be said that learnt traits such as those espoused within a specific culture, can produce what may seem to be the genetic genotype of an individualRead More Behavioral Genetic Determinism: Do Genes Equal Behavior? Essay2523 Words   |  11 PagesBehavioral Genetic Determinism: Do Genes Equal Behavior? Human behavior is a loosely defined foundation for individuality, generally considered to be influenced and developed by the environment. However, recent molecular studies have exposed genetic factors that suggest a more biological origin for behavior. Gene segments in the genome of humans and other animals have been identified and associated with particular behavioral traits. Is it possible that the presence or absence of even a singleRead MoreThe Fearless Vampire Conservator : Philip Kitcher, Genetic Determinism, And Informational Gene1525 Words   |  7 PagesVampire Conservator: Philip Kitcher, Genetic Determinism, and the Informational Gene, Paul Griffiths defines genetic determinism as â€Å"the idea that significant human characteristics are strongly linked to the presence of certain genes.†(pg number). Griffiths argues that the common characterization of genes as informational, in both science and general society, is problematic because it causes our concept of g enetics to be inextricably linked to genetic determinism. He explains that â€Å"the predominantRead MoreEssay on Freedom-Determinism debate1689 Words   |  7 PagesFreedom-Determinism Debate The controversy between freewill and determinism has been argued about for years. Freewill is defined as the belief that our behaviour is under our own control and do not act in response to any internal or external factors. Freewill has been found to have four different conditions and to have freewill at least two conditions must be obtained, these are; people have a choice on their actions, have not been coerced by anything or anyone, have full voluntary and deliberateRead MoreEssay on Choice and Free Will1511 Words   |  7 Pagesgiven to college level students to evaluate the â€Å"common† or â€Å"plain† perspective of free will. They also bring up the questions like â€Å"Is free will compatible with determinism?,† â€Å"What is meant by free will and determinism by the average person?,† and â€Å"Does it make a difference what attitudes people have regarding free will and determinism?† Free will and deterministic perspectives are exceedin gly argumentative points of view with hard deterministic views describing free will as non existent, and libertarianRead MoreDeterminism, Hard And Soft887 Words   |  4 Pages Determinism: According to Sappington (1990) there are two types of determinism, hard and soft. He states that those who hold hard determinism say that human behavior is completely determined by outside factors and that ideas such a free will or moral responsibility are meaningless. Many famous psychologists take this approach such as Freud who believed that people’s behavior is controlled by unconscious factors and any conscious reasons given are simply the brain rationalizing actions to the superegoRead MoreI Shall Use Blackburn s `` Think ``1578 Words   |  7 Pagesquestion and initial answer. In Think, Blackburn has a chapter dedicated to discussing the presence of free will and both arguments for and against its presence. Objection 1: In the beginning of chapter 4 of Think, Blackburn brings up the idea of determinism, or the idea that â€Å"every event is the upshot of previous antecedent causes.† His argument goes â€Å"The past controls the present and the future. You can’t control the past. Also, you can’t control the way that the past controls the future. So, youRead MoreFree Will vs. Determinism Essay1716 Words   |  7 PagesSo was your decision based off of free will or was this decision predetermined? To fully understand whether your actions resulted from free will or determinism, we must first define each. Determinism is the idea that everything happens due to a cause or a determinant, which is something that can be observed or measured. To put it simply, determinism does not mean that the future can be predicted. Rather, it is a prediction of the possible outcomes that may occur. To help predict outcomes we use factsRead MoreThe Controversy Over Free Will And Determini sm1354 Words   |  6 Pagescontroversy between free will and determinism has been argued about for years. If we look into a dictionary, free will is define as the power given to human beings to be able to make free choices that is unconstrained by external circumstances or a force such as fate or divine intervention. Determinism is defined as a philosophical doctrine that every event, act, and decision is the inescapable consequence of antecedents that are independent of the human will. Determinism states that humans have no freeRead MoreHard Determinism Vs. Negatives943 Words   |  4 Pagesof these ideas, hard determinism, has presented alleged positives and alleged negatives. One alleged negative that stands out to me is that no single person is responsible for their actions, no matter how heinous that action may be. I argue, that throwing morality completely out of the equation, is a genuine negative of hard determinism. In order to explain my thoughts, we must first understand the full meaning of hard determinism. In Holbach’s essay on hard determinism, he says, â€Å"Nevertheless