Education in Ancient India c4.48

c4.48

Nature vs. Nurture; some Western Views: What is the relative importance of nature and nurture in the scheme of education has been a question of great controversy since early times. Are human beings born with their mental, moral and intellectual characters and faculties rigidly predetermined, or can these be modified by education, and if so, to what extent? As is well known, different answers are given to this question by different educationalists in the west also. Plato, for instance, held that human mind is like a skein, that has to be only unravelled in this world; all knowledge is contained in a man, he has only to be reminded of it. Darwin, Galton and Ribot attach great importance to the role which heredity plays in our nature and Shopenhauer held that human character is inborn and unalterable. Herbert and Locke on the other hand maintain that it is not nature but nurture that determine our destiny. We come into this world with minds as empty as our bodies are naked; it is the training which we receive and the environments in which we live that determine our character and capacities.