1970 Geloof en Wetenschap : Orgaan van de Christelijke vereeniging van natuur- en geneeskundigen in Nederland - pagina 125

A. H. ESSER

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theories about what makes man tick, and be the first to show compassion, in view of the deliberate ways of being man wil have to develop in order to progress fully beyond the environmental determinism of his past. Yet, many academicians are totaly incapable of incorporating each other's images, being fascinated by the purely technical manipulations of their own imagery. Witness the articles and books dealing with innate or learned aspects of behavior. There is no doubt now that our total behavior is both innate and acquired: why do certain scientists continue to adhere to the obsolete point of view that it must be one or the other. In light of the immediate threats of mass violence, how can one consider seriously the contemporary, heated debate on aggression, reminding one of the ridiculous dogmas and unnecessary arguments regarding sex half a century ago? It would be better by far if the proponents were to study the fascinating question of the fusion between innate and learned aspects of behavior, with a view toward understanding spontaneous aggression and reducing deliberate aggressive acts. Finally, our deliberations urge us to strive toward diminishing the social pollution in which our children have to live. Our efforts in this respect face two major dangers. Making conscious the deeply hidden self-images, which interact with our environment to weave a cultural fabric, is painful on an individual as well as on a collective level. Because of the agonies of self-exposure and realization, we try hard to dilute, deny, and change the issues at stake. Witness the many „backlashes" and tangential developments in the U.S. civil rights movement, and in race relations everywhere. The other danger is closely related to our reluctance to look at the real roots of the problems of social pollution, be they ghetto living or the breakdown in communication between large segments of our population. It consists of the uses of scientific insights, more often than not incompletely formulated, for political purposes. This danger is ecpecially acute for those who are representatives of the growing man-environment field. Because of the visibility and the complexity and size of, say, the urban crisis, our society projects its hopes for marginal solutions on to this „new breed" of experts who are often seduced into offering „solutions" before the problems have been comprehended. Only the truth can set us free: We must admit that technological

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