Hereditary and Environment are not separable

 The problem of nature versus nurture defies satisfactory solution. As a matter of fact it is futile to ask which of two factors, heredity or environment is more important. According to Maclver every phenomenon of life is the product of both, each is as necessary to the result as the other, neither can ever be eliminated and neither can be isolated

No society is a product of environment alone for men inherit physical heritage. There is incessant interaction between the two. They are inseparable. One man is a law-abiding citizen, another is a criminal; one is militarist and another pacifist. It is difficult to indicate any genetic basis for these variations and in many cases it is almost impossible to assess properly the relative role of heredity and environment in producing these differences. Both have been operative to produce every particular situation since time immemorial.

In no case of personality development can we properly attribute any characteristic to heredity or to environment alone. A given result is always produced by the interaction of gene substance and their environment. We should therefore be interested in asking about the absolute contribution of either factor as a whole. The conclusions that can be drawn is that the question which is more important, heredity or environment wrongly assumes that environment and heredity are opposed so that if one is important the other cannot be. All the qualities of life are in the heredity all the evocations of qualities depend on the environment. In other words heredity has potentiality and environment offers it a chance of bringing them out. It also follows from this principle that the higher the potentiality, the greater is the demand made on environment.

Thus more subtle differences in environment may have little effect on those of low potentiality while the same differences may be vastly significant for those who have higher potentiality. For instance a minor change in a situation say a rebuff may prove decisive to a sensitive nature while it may not affect a thick skinned man. Lastly the more elastic the life the more is it at the mercy of environment. That is why environment affects us most in the earlier years of our life when we are most impressionable. It is clear that heredity and environment –the two ultimate determinants of every living being are of co-equal importance and that none is more potent than the other.