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Patterns and Processes in Cultural Evolution

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Abstract

Darwinian models of cultural change have been motivated, in part, by the desire to provide a framework for the unification of the biological and the human sciences. In this paper, drawing upon a distinction between the evolution of enabling mechanisms for the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge (EEM) and the evolution of epistemic theses as cultural products (EET), we propose a model of how culture emerges as a product of biological evolution on the basis of the concept of reaction norms. The goal of this model is to provide a means for conceptualizing how the biological and the cultural realms are connected, when they start to disconnect, and what the key transitions are. We then assess the viability of a Darwinian approach to cultural change. We conclude that the prospects of producing a Darwinian model of cultural change that unifies the human sciences in a way that mirrors the unification of the biological sciences in the light of Darwin’s theory are rather dim.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Nathalie Gontier and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticisms and suggestions on a previous version of this manuscript. We also thank all the students from our Biology and Philosophy seminar at BGSU for their fruitful discussions on cultural evolution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA

    Michael Bradie

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA

    Juan L. Bouzat

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  1. Michael Bradie
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Correspondence to Michael Bradie.

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Bradie, M., Bouzat, J.L. Patterns and Processes in Cultural Evolution. Evol Biol 43, 516–530 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-015-9342-7

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