East Pole–West Pole divide

[1] Very few researchers adhere strictly to the extreme positions highlighted by the East Pole–West Pole debate.

That is, there are very few empiricists who believe in the Lockean ideal of the tabula rasa (namely, that children are born with no innate knowledge or constraints), and there are very few nativists who agree with Fodor's assertion that all concepts that are learned over the course of life are present in the mind prior to birth.

Nevertheless, most scholars within the fields of cognitive science and developmental psychology affiliate themselves with one of the two positions through the means of their research.

The two books best known for espousing the empiricist and nativist positions within the context of cognitive psychology are Rethinking Innateness by Jeffrey Elman et al. and The Modularity of Mind by Jerry Fodor, respectively.

Incidentally, the authors are affiliated with the two institutions on which the East Pole–West Pole metaphor is based, UCSD and MIT, affirming the relevance and pervasiveness of this moniker for the intellectual divide.