We Are Not Hard-Wired
Patrick F. Clarkin
Development is the missing link between genotype and phenotype, a place too often occupied by metaphors in the past … But a strong emphasis on the genome means that environmental influence is systematically ignored. If you begin with DNA and view development as “hard-wired,” you overlook the flexible phenotype and the causes of its variation that are the mainsprings of adaptive evolution. (Mary Jane West-Eberhard, 2003: 89-90)
Every so often, it’s important to reflect on how we think about the ways that nature and nurture collide to impact our biology. The alliteration of the two terms – nature and nurture – has given the phrase some staying power. In 1874, Charles Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton, referred to the two as “a convenient jingle of words.” Before him, William Shakespeare described the character Caliban in The Tempest as “A devil, a born devil, on whose nature / Nurture can never stick.” Most of us would probably say that both nature and nurture count for something, though we may shift our thinking, depending on the trait in question: blood type, sexual orientation, height, temperament, etc.
https://evolution-institute.org/article/we-are-not-hard-wired/
