ABSTRACT

For a biologist, the term "culture" comes to mean a set of behavior characterized by its origin. An individual develops a particular behavior partly because its genetic endowment directs its development, and partly because the environment feeds information into the process of development. I f a be­ havior were entirely programmed by genes, i t could be called "innate"; i f i t were an exclusive product of environmental stimuli during the animal's ontogeny, i t could loosely be called "acquired" behavior. I n reality, these extremes do not occur. Although the swimming movements of a fish and the skill of a translator come close to the extreme forms, the fish w i l l never swim unless i t finds suitable conditions for its development, and the translator's faculties depend on a ge­ netic basis that is uniquely human. Each observed trait is thus shaped by both information contained already in the egg cell and by information drawn from the ontogenetical environment; nevertheless, the distinction between the two sources of information is real. I f two fish w i t h diverse geno­ types, but raised under the same environmental conditions, develop different swimming movements, i t is safe to say that the difference is an effect of genotypes, not of environment. If , on the other hand, identical twins acquire different lan­ guages when raised in different nations, the environment must be responsible. The important thing to note is that only a difference between traits, not a trait as such, can be called "innate" or "acquired."