Robert Owen: A Student of Human Nature

From the age of ten, Robert Owen was employed in numerous situations that gave him unique insights into human behavior and the character of various classes of people. He believed he had unlocked the hidden secret of human nature—that the individual is incapable of forming his own character; that society forms it for him.

Owen believed that society can cause an individual to have any character it desires by providing the right environment. His experiment at New Lanark was to demonstrate this truth, and he believed, even to the day of his death, that if he could overcome man's ignorance, they would gladly accept his principles as the basis for society.

It is remarkable that a young man in his teenage years, living toward the end of the 18th century, should discover the "nature vs. nurture" debate that rages even today among the greatest scientific minds of our time.