Re. Innate skills?

[Geoff Hart <geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

     Robert Plamondon <paraphrase> expressed some scepticism that writing
     could be considered an innate ability (vs. a learned skill). For
     evidence, I profer the recent book "The language instinct" by a
     renowned linguist/neurologist Steven Pinker. (Hope I got both names
     correct.)

     This debate is sterile, folks, and is approaching the status of a
     religious argument. Perhaps another one to take off line? No one has
     satisfactorily won the nature vs. nurture argument in the biological
     community, and if you're not a neurobiologist, you probably can't add
     anything to the debate that hasn't already been said. Virtually all
     biological phenomena partake of both genetics (innate) and environment
     (learned), and I'd go so far as to say that this is almost 100% true
     for anything concerning human intelligence. Some people write well
     naturally, others can learn to write well, most of us improve through
     practice and criticism, and still others (e.g., those with certain
     types of brain damage) will never learn, no matter how you teach them.
     Trying to arrive at a more definite answer isn't likely to succeed,
     and will just raise tempers.

     Please agree to disagree and move on to more fruitful ground, such as
     how to best train writers/editors to improve! That should at least
     provide us with some practical tips for improvement.

     --Geoff Hart     #8^{)}
     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

     Disclaimer: These comments are my own and don't represent the opinions
     of the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada.