 The innate/acquired distinction is not only interesting in its own right, but also serves as an example of how the discipline of philosophy can and should interact with the scientific fields it investigates. In this entry we have explored some of the historical debates over nativism as they have played out within the disciplines of psychology and biology. Philosophical diagnoses of these debates tend to focus on particular historical episodes or on the work of individual historical figures (e.g. Konrad Lorenz and his debate with Lehrman). This raises an important consideration when evaluating the generality of a given philosophical diagnosis: to what extent is it shaped by the particular details of the scientific debate on which it is based? Our view is that an adequate philosophical diagnosis of what is at issue in scientific debates over nativism should sample from a broad range of historical periods and figures.