nature or nuture?

[heart]

which underlying defines who we are? Is it our genetic make up or inexorably a manifestation of intention? Do we create the path or was it always set?

[RTandon]

I think it's both.

[heart]

substantiate the claim please need some ideas!

[Water]

substantiate the claim please need some ideas!

Is this a University Assignment? Or a High school Assignment?

[Starlight]

Yeah, definitely both.

For example, males are more likely to engage in reckless behaviour than females however through a good upbringing, and being around the right kind of people, they would be less likely to do so.

[heart]

no assignments just taking a break from trials and trying to get different insights into the English context.

[Felicity Wishes]

Both for sure. Our genes provide some things but our experience guides us. For example, our genes provide us with some traits that make up our personality but our experience can help nuture these already given traits, or it can alter them. See Bandura's work on aggression if you are interested in what experience can do.

In terms of mental illness, genes create our vulnerability to certain illnesses or whatnot, but it is things like drugs or the way we were parented that influence whether we develop that illness.

[Tomw2]

which underlying defines who we are?

I think it's both.

substantiate the claim please need some ideas!

I'm not even sure the claim even needs to be substantiated. It's as close to a psychological and physiological law as you can get. Obviously it's both.

IMO the more interesting, relevant and challenging question is - for a given behaviour or human phenomena, to what degree does nature or nurture contribute?

Broad, unspecified "nature vs nurture?" discussions inevitably end up grossly oversimplifying everything!

[HighLatency]

which underlying defines who we are? Is it our genetic make up or inexorably a manifestation of intention? Do we create the path or was it always set?

Assuming you don't have any mental conditions I would say mostly environmental factors in growing up, so nurture.
People are not born good or evil.

[JellyDonut]

A quick wikipedia search on the subject would show that this debate is kinda antiquated.

[Tomw2]

^agreed

[Eriny]

I guess it depends on what aspect of one's personality/behaviour/health you're talking about. It must be both, but to what extent is unknowable because there are too many variables to do a test on it.