Culture Does Evolve
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4496019 |
|---|---|
| Authors | W G Runciman (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-13 |
| Publication date | 2005-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History and Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2656 • E-ISSN: 1468-2303 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1468-2303.2005.00304.x |
| OpenAlex | W2135277950 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 13 |
| References cited | 7 |
Neo-Darwinian theories of cultural evolution are apt to be criticized on the grounds that they merely borrow from the theory of natural selection concepts that are then metaphorically applied to conventional historical narratives to which they add no more, if anything, than an implicit presupposition of progress from one predetermined stage to the next. Such criticisms, of which a particularly forceful example is a recent article in this journal by Fracchia and Lewontin, can however be shown to be seriously misconceived. The fundamental process of heritable variation and competitive selection of information affecting phenotype underlies both biological and cultural evolution despite the obvious differences between the mechanisms of information transfer by genetic inheritance and by exosomatic imitation and learning. Information transfer is in neither case a metaphor standing for any other thing, and in neither case does change over time proceed in accordance with developmental laws from which the future evolution of either species or cultures could be predicted in advance. For all the unresolved questions that remain, neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory has demonstrated the mutual compatibility of idiographic and nomothetic explanation in the study of species and of cultures alike
Biology · Conflation · Darwinism · Epistemology · Evolutionary biology · Imitation · Inheritance (genetic algorithm) · Metaphor · Modern evolutionary synthesis · Narrative · Natural selection · Niche construction · Nomothetic · Nomothetic and idiographic · Presupposition · Selection (genetic algorithm) · Sociology · Computer Science · Evolution and Science Education · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Language and cultural evolution · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology
The Limits of Culture
Evolution and Material Culture
Rhythm and Cadence, Frenzy and March
Towards a unified science of cultural evolution
(Neo-)evolutionäre Wahlverwandtschaften
Asian business systems
The History and Theory of Empires
Les usages de la biologie en sciences sociales
Coevolution in water resource development
Sociological limits and prospects of contemporary cultural evolutionary theory
A arqueologia como paradigma de ciência histórica e interdisciplinar
Does culture evolve by means of Darwinian selection? The lessons of Candide's travels
Not Elective but Selective Affinities
| Unique citing works | 13 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,59 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2021 (18) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |