Thread: A product of the environment

In the Pedigree Dog and Cat Worlds, nobody is under any delusion that the behavior of their animals is a function of their environment. Why, the environment is the same for all of the animals that they had bread, and some are mean spirited and some are nice and sweet. They would tell you that it is all a matter of breeding.

for instance, there is a new breed of Cat called the Bengal. It is a mix of Short Hair Oriental, such as a Siamese, and a Southern Indian Spotted Lepard which is not much larger than a house cat. Well, the first few generations of such a mix is too wild to be considered a domesticated cat -- they are not box trainable, and they do not carefully inhibit their aggression toward humans they was a socialized domestic cat will. But after 5 Generations the Bengal is no longer 'wild'. But, unlike for any other Breed, the Bengals have been given a personality Standard that they must meet. Because they are suspected of being 'wild' and thus aggresive, they must not during Show demonstrate any hostile behavior. Any growl, hissing, or attempt to bite or scratch will have them thrown out of Show. The response from the Breeders (after all the bellyaching about unfair burden) was that they searched hi and low for the sweetest and most easy going breeding stock to mix in with their Bengal Lines.

No one thought that by being especially nice to these cats -- by sterilizing their environment -- that the basic personality of these cats could be modified. It was simply understood that Personality is a direct product of their existential being -- traceable all the way back to birth and breeding. Bad Experience might damage a Good Personality, but a Good Personality cannot come out of a bad breeding.

Somebody once walked up to Albert Einstein and asked how long it takes to become so smart. He replied, "three generations".

Leo,
That is an interesting post. No surprise with your fondness and knowledge of cats that you would use them metaphorically in conjunction with my post.
And you being somewhat of an exception because you put things how they are. This is why you are generally not liked. So you most likely can understand what I am saying.
Could you direct your answer more directly toward the behavior of humans?

Originally posted by Leo
No one thought that by being especially nice to these cats -- by sterilizing their environment -- that the basic personality of these cats could be modified. It was simply understood that Personality is a direct product of their existential being -- traceable all the way back to birth and breeding. Bad Experience might damage a Good Personality, but a Good Personality cannot come out of a bad breeding.

At some point in life someone can, but does not have to, break this mold. This preconceived person that beats their wife because their father did. IT may be a much higher mountain to climb. I for one feel people are accountable for their actions. There are always exceptions to this rule....that sentence that I just wrote is a very good example of me trying to ward of a of a stereotypical, politically correct rebut to what I am trying to say.

The thing that would be sensitive is the people that may respond. Not the discussion or topic itself.

But anyway, the environment is the study of a cause and effect result, by natural law.
But the study doesn't of itself reveal all the questions about why one person carries certain habits traits and tendencies. Why one is extremely unusually smart and talented. And another person a complete dolt who is slow to learn.

Surely these are not purely a result of environment. Cats and dogs for example. They carry habits from long eons ago. They call it instint. When chickens hatch and they see a bird of prey they run to their mother. But these instincts can't be a result of environment for the chickens themselves have experienced little of being eaten by prey. They have certainly not observed or learnt this from their mother after just being born.

There is no exact explaination as to how the instint can scientifically be converted to the offspring and apparantly seeminly burned in the offsprings memory from the start.

As I was saying. A child learns a musical instrument easily and becomes a master at it in only a small amount of time. While another is slow to grasp and finds a great deal of difficulty in learning the instrument.

The answers to these questions lies behind experience. Would it not make sense that one who has experienced playing the instrument more than another be more proficient at it?

Lets not forget the study and evidence documented of reincarnation at this stage. As it's implications are very important. And cannot be easily refuted when this is seriously contemplated.