I have always been depressed by the view of the pure, or maybe
vulgar materialists, who say that all that we are is a puppet of the
environment--the ultimate statement of this position is the
anti-theory theory of
B.F. Skinner:
S-R Theory. A
stimulus in the
environment draws forth a
response not
mediated by anything "inside".
I have been, well, not depressed, but not convinced by the opposite pure, or vulgar view that there is some sort of spirit inside that acts on the environment--that this is our nauture. I think one has to believe in God to accept this view.
I am happier with an intermediate position: It seems incontrovertible to me that there is some structure--us, brain, hands, stuff that happens betweens us and the emvironment. We create things, technology, words, forms, music, dance, ideas, both directly, and in interaction with things and other people.
I like the view I think some call critical realism: it isn't inside us; it isn't outside us--its inbetween us.
More mundanely, I agree with what Cermain says above.