Twain demonstrates a decided predilection for the "nurture" side of the
argument in his writings, in pieces like "The Turning Point of My Life,"
"What is Man?," and declarations like "Circumstance is everything," which,
if memory serves, is from A Connecticut Yankee.  He was a friend of William
James, first president of the American Psychological Association, and
certainly subscribed to James's writings with respect to habit formation,
including ideas which would later become tenets of the behaviorist canon in
psychology. I have little doubt that, had he stuck around a bit longer,
Twain would have found he had much in common with the empirically-based
psychologists who called themselves behaviorists, e.g., J.B. Watson and
B.F. Skinner.
Martin

On Tue, Jan 3, 2017 at 4:29 PM, Richey, Ms. Carolyn L <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> This is a side note to the original post regarding the comment that none
> of=
>  Twain's writings addresses the Nature vs. Nurture debate so prevalent in
> t=
> he 19th century and after.  In Pudd'nhead Wilson, he most definitely
> addres=
> ses the nature/nurture discussion through Roxy's switching of the master's
> =
> son and her own son.  Her son is raised to be a despicable character and
> th=
> e master's son was so damaged by his "nurturance" as a slave that when all
> =
> was set right, he could not leave the kitchen. =20
>
> Also, regarding the original topic of the N word, watch the old Disney
> movi=
> e of Huck Finn where they substitute slave for the N word and the whole
> ide=
> a of slavery seems like a romp in the park.
>
>
>
> Carolyn Leutzinger Richey
> Tarleton State University
> Department of English and Languages
> Office:  OAG334
> Box T-0-300
> 254-968-9511
> [log in to unmask]
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Holmes
> Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2017 3:10 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Reasons to quit (using the "N" word)
>
> Purely a technicality but Twain was in fact a racist in that he recognized
> =
> distinctions between groups/populations of peoples and accepted both
> qualit=
> ative and quantitative distinctions between them.
> He may or may not have come to accept Native Americans as fully human but
> f=
> or most of his writings they were on a par with African bushmen - also a
> ma=
> ssively unfair and racist judgment call on his part. =C2=A0Twain was an
> Ori=
> entalist, the accepted sociological theory of the day. It's unclear if his
> =
> distinctions were made from a biological perspective or cultural. =C2=A0I
> c=
> an't recall anything about the nature/nurture debate in Twain's writings.
> --
>  There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of
>                           in your philosophy.
>                         http://bscottholmes.com
>