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endsthegame2016-08-01 09:51 am
Entry tags:
Practical Philosophy, Monday
Today, class was meeting... in the Danger Shop. Ender had programmed it with a simulation of a nice, cool forest clearing, though otherwise his setup was unchanged.
"I suppose this week is as good a week as any to talk about nurture," he said wryly, sitting down. "Specifically, what effect does the environment you grew up in - or exist in - have on you personally? Has it helped define you, or does it define you entirely, or are most of your traits inborn?"
He spread his arms.
"It's an issue on which scientists and philosophers have quarreled for centuries," he said. "When a child gets born to a family in the desert, are they instilled with a resistance to heat on a biological level, or is it that they grow up accustomed to it? Is a child born cheerful, or is that a mechanism they build as they explore how their interaction affects the world around them? And so forth, and so on. I don't want to really talk about other people, though. I want to talk about you."
He took a sip of water.
"So tell me about where you come from, in as much detail - or lack thereof - as you like," he said. "How much of an effect do you think it's had on who you are?"
"I suppose this week is as good a week as any to talk about nurture," he said wryly, sitting down. "Specifically, what effect does the environment you grew up in - or exist in - have on you personally? Has it helped define you, or does it define you entirely, or are most of your traits inborn?"
He spread his arms.
"It's an issue on which scientists and philosophers have quarreled for centuries," he said. "When a child gets born to a family in the desert, are they instilled with a resistance to heat on a biological level, or is it that they grow up accustomed to it? Is a child born cheerful, or is that a mechanism they build as they explore how their interaction affects the world around them? And so forth, and so on. I don't want to really talk about other people, though. I want to talk about you."
He took a sip of water.
"So tell me about where you come from, in as much detail - or lack thereof - as you like," he said. "How much of an effect do you think it's had on who you are?"