Alphonse de Candolle, Francis Galton, and the early history of the nature-nurture controversy

Raymond E. Fancher

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History of Science and Medicine History of Science and Natural History Philosophy and History of Science

Abstract

Stimulated partly by disagreement with Francis Galton's Hereditary Genius, Alphonse de Candolle's 1873 Histoire des Sciences et des Savants depuis Deux Siècles drew on both personal and statistical data to show how various environmental variables influenced the rates at which different European countries produced eminent scientists. Galton was impressed by much of Candolle's case, and distressed to be labeled its opposition. He resolved his conflict by asserting that environmental variables were effective, but only for innately predisposed individuals, and then went on to name and formulate the modern form of the “nature-nurture” controversy.

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