nature or nurture?

Having children myself, both of them with autism, I honestly feel that both of these goes hand in hand. Let me explain using my boys as examples. . . Nature has made is so that autism runs in my family (strong family history). Nature decided to bless both of my boys with autism, as well as a massive hypo-reactive tendencies within my youngest. Nature is a wonderful thing =D However, if I didn't nurture my boys and guide them in the right direction, well, neither of them would survive. Literally. Because autism is affects the senses, I have had to nurture both boys with EVERY aspect of their lives, nothing can be left to chance (nature). This is because their brains don't function in the normal way, nature has made it so that both of my boys NEED to be nurtured and molded so that they can handle life. By nurturing my boys and teaching them to respect other people (and their property) I know that my boys will be able to build temples and create works of art =D

Not exactly. This topic has been picked apart by psychologists and their precursors for over a century. Humans certainly have much more need for nurture than other species (no genetic memory to speak of etc) but genes can't be dismissed. For example, they were the dominant factor in deciding that I grow to be 6'7 1/2" tall. Or that my heart didn't stop ticking when I was 5. Or that it worked at all. Or that I had a brain that works reasonably well. On a finer level, predisposition, which is genetic, plays a great role in human development. Our collective knowledge is replete with stories, fictional or not, of people going against their education.