I don’t have an argument with you there. Our instincts are there for a reason, and in an evolutionary sense, it makes sense for a lion to be very interested in protecting its cubs. But wouldn’t the lion’s reaction technically come about from something that happens in the environment (I.e. someone shooting its cubs).

- “Its the same with humans, we merely learn to control our urges, we do not learn to suppress them to a point where we don’t feel them anymore.”

In my own personal experience, I honestly believe that to some extent, we do manage to suppress some of the viler urges that we might have. As a child I may have felt bouts of anger that led me to ultimately resort to violence, but now, when the anger emotion is triggered, I rarely, if ever, resort to actually physically punching someone else.

I agree with the point that we cannot eliminate our urges or emotions. I mean, they help us in numerous, countless ways. It also makes life a lot more interesting. However, doesn’t the fact that as we mature, and gain increasing mastery over our responses to such emotions, show clearly that we are a master over ourselves? And that much of that impulse control is a result of our environment?

- “Now looking at the big picture, doesn’t this mean that our environment merely gives us a false mask for us to hide our true selves behind. It means that our current environment turned us into “self contradicting” being. ”

That sounds really deep. I’d rather not touch that argument, but what I have to say about that last sentence is, is it really contradictory of us to control our emotions? For example, assume that a husband and wife, who otherwise really love each other, quarrel over something one day. The fight escalates until the husband’s anger overcomes his better judgment, and he gets the urge to hit her. At this point, would hitting her, going along with that violent urge, really be what he truly wants? If he allows that urge to translate into action, he might do something he will regret – hurting a loved one and possibly ending an otherwise pleasant relationship.

Not hitting her, at that point would seem much less contradictory to the true nature of that man.

- “I personally believe that our environment only shapes us partly.”

I agree. Although from my posts I rarely gave credit to our genes, or temperament, or what have you… I too believe that part of who we end up to be lies in our genetic code. Of course, this means that the environment will not be the one and only factor that shapes us. However I do believe that our environment does play a disproportionately large role in who we become – and shapes us in conjunction with what we were born with.

P.S Maybe we should stop arguing this point, since the question of being a product of our environment wasn’t really the -point- behind the ToK lessons this week… and my Journal entry may have focused on the wrong aspect of the Meno.

Its the same with humans, we merely learn to control our urges, we do not learn to suppress them to a point where we don’t feel them anymore. For example, if someone were to insult you( verbal, a non-violent, acceptable.), you would want to punch him (physical, violent, not acceptable according to law), however if you don’t want to contradict the “law” you would have to overcome your urges(instincts) of wanting to hit him.

Now looking at the big picture, doesn’t this mean that our environment merely gives us a false mask for us to hide our true selves behind. It means that our current environment turned us into “self contradicting” being. Now I am not saying that our current believes and customs are bad. (I don’t think anyone want to go back to the ages where humans would to kill each other off simply because they fancied each others “wifes”) I am simply stating that “I personally believe that our environment only shapes us partly.”

There are more examples where animals overcome their base instincts in favour of behaviour that better fits their environment. Take a human – we all have base instincts from our primordial days, but we learn to quickly suppress them in favour of more acceptable behaviour. Our environment undoes the instinct that we have to hit our enemies with stones and weapons.

I also seem to remember Mr. Dennie last year saying that humans are one of the few creatures that can control their evolution – and we can. We can choose to understand concepts that our brain previously could not, we can improve our physical abilities in certain sports, we can make ourselves more physically attractive in different ways. In essence, we are constantly evolving, and I’ll have to argue that most of it is a result of our environment.