Who Is Responsible? The Environment or The Genes?

It is said that time sorts things out, but it hasn't been the case regarding the following issue: the controversy between the influence of heredity and environment, this one is still unsolved to this day. Scientists still argue about which of these two has a greater influence in the physical and psychological development.

From this point of view, the world of science is divided into three major categories: (1)the environmentalists, who draw their theories from the great English philosopher John Locke, in whose perspective we are all born "tabula rasa", so the environment has the chance to write our entire history,(2) the scientists who believe, as J.J.Rousseau also does, that it is all "written in our genes", and (3) those who adhere to the double determination perspective, which says that human nature is the product of both the environment and the genes.

The last group presented is the one that attracts the great majority of thinkers and researchers. One of the strongest reasons lies in the fact that the other two theories are almost impossible to prove. The cause is that so far there are no means to separate the two: the genes and the environment.

These two factors are continuously interacting; the genes are always expressing themselves throughout the environment. It is well-known that our entire being is coded inside the DNA. In order to be expressed, the DNA must be read by the RNA, and all this process takes place in the environment of the cell. So this is the first time when the genes and the environment interact. What is shown outside, the phenotype, is only the expression of some of the genes.

The other genes of the genotype were not expressed or because they weren't supposed to be, those where the instructions, or because the cell environment and the environment inside the uterus prohibit it. Furthermore, after our birth, we are more and more influenced by the environment: the medical care, the social-economical status, the family, the school and so on. So it is extremely hard to predict which of these two factors have a greater influence, and some believe that the answer has no importance at all. Maybe it hasn't, for everyday life. But in some areas things change.

The genes don't affect only the physical part of our being, but they guide our behavior and they offer predispositions for it. Since the dispute concerning which of the components presented above has been made public, a lot of individuals started to take advantage of it. In several parts of the world the law-courts take into account the genetic inheritance of the defendant and the verdict depends on it.

For example, some scientists believe that there is an aggressive gene and those who carry this gene cannot be considered guilty because it is not their fault they have it. Moreover, in many other cases people tend to excuse their inappropriate behavior and blame it all on the genes. The scientists who believe that genes only offer predispositions but they don't "oblige" a person to act in a certain way interfered in this situation and explained that a person must be responsible for their actions because they can control the environment and by these means they can control their behavior. They tried to explain that we are born with a certain potential, with a certain temper, but we are also influenced by the surroundings, by the environment, so we cannot stop at a point and say this is what the genes are doing in me and this is what the external and internal environment does.

It's a combination and we can dose the environment. If we see that we have a tendency to be aggressive, we must put ourselves in a different environment that can adjust this situation. For example, we can stop watching aggressive movies, listening to disturbing music and spending time with groups that encourage this behavior.

In conclusion, we, as human beings are unique interactions between the genes and the environment. We cannot know the percentage in which each of these two affect us, but we can always adopt the humanist motto: in each of us there is greater potential than we express. So this could give us confidence to move further our limits and always hope for better, because in a way, we can decide our fate.