Instinct and culture?

Question:

Instinct and culture?

Yesterday, I had a very long conversation with my friend about culture and instinct. My friend claimed that they are two different things, while I on the other hand, claimed that culture and instinct are pretty much the same. I gave an example of the following...

Say someone is invading your land, and you find that defending it helps block the invaders, and so your outcome would be you preserving your land, right? Well, doesn't this become culture as well? Culture, to me, IS instinct, and instinct IS culture.

What do you think? Is there a fine line between instinct and culture, does it depend, or are they both the same exact thing? Elaborate.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Many would argue that instinct is SUPPRESSED by cultural norms. For example, a goat herder in Saudi Arabia might say that instinct drives him to have sex with his goats. But culture enforces decency acts to prevent him from doing just that. Instinct and culture are two separate concepts and cannot be mixed.