Of course, it is admitted that
some sort of a mental groundwork must be inherited, but extremists
allege that this is little more than a clean slate on which the
environment, particularly during the early years of childhood, writes
its autograph.
We must grant that the analysis of the inheritance of mental traits is
proceeding slowly. This is not the fault of the geneticist, but rather
of the psychologist, who has not yet been able to furnish the geneticist
with the description of definite traits of such a character as to make
possible the exhaustive analysis of their individual inheritance. That
department of psychology is only now being formed.
We might even admit that no inherited "unit character" in the mind has
yet been isolated; but it would be a great mistake to assume from this
admission that proof of the inheritance of mental qualities, in general,
is lacking.
The psychologists and educators who think so appear either to be swayed
by metaphysical views of the mind, or else to believe that resemblance
between parent and offspring is the only evidence of inheritance that
can be offered. The father dislikes cheese, the son dislikes cheese.
"Aha, you think that that is the inheritance of a dislike for cheese,"
cries the critic, "but we will teach you better.
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