A controversy replacing that on the dichotomy between hereditary and environment in the 1930s and 1940s. Essentially, it boiled down to whether ontogenetic development was genetically controlled or determined purely by learning effects. In fact, none of the protagonists (Arnold Gesell & Myrtle B. McGraw v’s John B. Watson) in this sterile controversy, generated largely by the media of the time, actually fully subscribed to such extreme views, except perhaps as debating points.
See Innate (1), Innate versus acquired debate, Interactive specialisation approach (or hypothesis), Maturation, Maturation perspective/approach, Nature-nurture debate