Towards a unified science of cultural evolution
Identifieur interne : 001996 ( Istex/Corpus ); précédent : 001995; suivant : 001997Towards a unified science of cultural evolution
Auteurs : Alex Mesoudi ; Andrew Whiten ; Kevin N. LalandSource :
- Behavioral and Brain Sciences [ 0140-525X ] ; 2006-08.
Abstract
We suggest that human culture exhibits key Darwinian evolutionary properties, and argue that the structure of a science of cultural evolution should share fundamental features with the structure of the science of biological evolution. This latter claim is tested by outlining the methods and approaches employed by the principal subdisciplines of evolutionary biology and assessing whether there is an existing or potential corresponding approach to the study of cultural evolution. Existing approaches within anthropology and archaeology demonstrate a good match with the macroevolutionary methods of systematics, paleobiology, and biogeography, whereas mathematical models derived from population genetics have been successfully developed to study cultural microevolution. Much potential exists for experimental simulations and field studies of cultural microevolution, where there are opportunities to borrow further methods and hypotheses from biology. Potential also exists for the cultural equivalent of molecular genetics in “social cognitive neuroscience,” although many fundamental issues have yet to be resolved. It is argued that studying culture within a unifying evolutionary framework has the potential to integrate a number of separate disciplines within the social sciences.
Url:
DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X06009083
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ISTEX:FA01E43823ED7F13221EE7FBC0E63980ECB96865Le document en format XML
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Laland</name><affiliation><mods:affiliation>Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution and School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9TS, Scotland, United Kingdom. knl1@st-and.ac.ukwww.st-andrews.ac.uk/~seal</mods:affiliation></affiliation><affiliation><mods:affiliation>E-mail: MesoudiA@missouri.edu</mods:affiliation></affiliation></author></analytic><monogr></monogr><series><title level="j">Behavioral and Brain Sciences</title><idno type="ISSN">0140-525X</idno><idno type="eISSN">1469-1825</idno><imprint><publisher>Cambridge University Press</publisher><pubPlace>New York, USA</pubPlace><date type="published" when="2006-08">2006-08</date><biblScope unit="volume">29</biblScope><biblScope unit="issue">4</biblScope><biblScope unit="page" from="329">329</biblScope><biblScope unit="page" to="347">347</biblScope></imprint><idno type="ISSN">0140-525X</idno></series></biblStruct></sourceDesc><seriesStmt><idno type="ISSN">0140-525X</idno></seriesStmt></fileDesc><profileDesc><textClass></textClass><langUsage><language ident="en">en</language></langUsage></profileDesc></teiHeader><front><div type="abstract">We suggest that human culture exhibits key Darwinian evolutionary properties, and argue that the structure of a science of cultural evolution should share fundamental features with the structure of the science of biological evolution. This latter claim is tested by outlining the methods and approaches employed by the principal subdisciplines of evolutionary biology and assessing whether there is an existing or potential corresponding approach to the study of cultural evolution. Existing approaches within anthropology and archaeology demonstrate a good match with the macroevolutionary methods of systematics, paleobiology, and biogeography, whereas mathematical models derived from population genetics have been successfully developed to study cultural microevolution. Much potential exists for experimental simulations and field studies of cultural microevolution, where there are opportunities to borrow further methods and hypotheses from biology. Potential also exists for the cultural equivalent of molecular genetics in “social cognitive neuroscience,” although many fundamental issues have yet to be resolved. 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Laland</name><affiliations><json:string>Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution and School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9TS, Scotland, United Kingdom. knl1@st-and.ac.ukwww.st-andrews.ac.uk/~seal</json:string><json:string>E-mail: MesoudiA@missouri.edu</json:string></affiliations></json:item></author><subject><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>cultural anthropology</value></json:item><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>cultural evolution</value></json:item><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>cultural transmission</value></json:item><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>culture</value></json:item><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>evolution</value></json:item><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>evolutionary archaeology</value></json:item><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>evolutionary biology</value></json:item><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>gene-culture coevolution</value></json:item><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>memes</value></json:item><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>social learning.</value></json:item></subject><arkIstex>ark:/67375/6GQ-XL4TGP4R-2</arkIstex><language><json:string>eng</json:string></language><originalGenre><json:string>research-article</json:string></originalGenre><abstract>We suggest that human culture exhibits key Darwinian evolutionary properties, and argue that the structure of a science of cultural evolution should share fundamental features with the structure of the science of biological evolution. 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Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics, <institution>University of British Columbia</institution>, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z2, <country>Canada</country>. <email>MesoudiA@missouri.edu</email>http://www.missouri.edu/~mesoudia/">www.missouri.edu/~mesoudia/</aff></contrib><contrib><name><surname>Whiten</surname><given-names>Andrew</given-names></name><aff>Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution and School of Psychology, <institution>University of St. Andrews</institution>, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, Scotland, <country>United Kingdom</country>. <email>aw2@st-and.ac.uk</email>www.st-and.ac.uk/~aw2/</aff></contrib><contrib><name><surname>Laland</surname><given-names>Kevin N.</given-names></name><aff>Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution and School of Biology, <institution>University of St. Andrews</institution>, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9TS, Scotland, <country>United Kingdom</country>. <email>knl1@st-and.ac.uk</email>www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~seal</aff></contrib></contrib-group><pub-date pub-type="epub"><day>09</day><month>11</month><year>2006</year></pub-date><pub-date pub-type="ppub"><month>8</month><year>2006</year></pub-date><volume>29</volume><issue seq="1">4</issue><fpage>329</fpage><lpage>347</lpage><permissions><copyright-statement>2006 Cambridge University Press</copyright-statement></permissions><abstract><p>We suggest that human culture exhibits key Darwinian evolutionary properties, and argue that the structure of a science of cultural evolution should share fundamental features with the structure of the science of biological evolution. This latter claim is tested by outlining the methods and approaches employed by the principal subdisciplines of evolutionary biology and assessing whether there is an existing or potential corresponding approach to the study of cultural evolution. Existing approaches within anthropology and archaeology demonstrate a good match with the macroevolutionary methods of systematics, paleobiology, and biogeography, whereas mathematical models derived from population genetics have been successfully developed to study cultural microevolution. Much potential exists for experimental simulations and field studies of cultural microevolution, where there are opportunities to borrow further methods and hypotheses from biology. Potential also exists for the cultural equivalent of molecular genetics in “social cognitive neuroscience,” although many fundamental issues have yet to be resolved. 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This latter claim is tested by outlining the methods and approaches employed by the principal subdisciplines of evolutionary biology and assessing whether there is an existing or potential corresponding approach to the study of cultural evolution. Existing approaches within anthropology and archaeology demonstrate a good match with the macroevolutionary methods of systematics, paleobiology, and biogeography, whereas mathematical models derived from population genetics have been successfully developed to study cultural microevolution. Much potential exists for experimental simulations and field studies of cultural microevolution, where there are opportunities to borrow further methods and hypotheses from biology. Potential also exists for the cultural equivalent of molecular genetics in “social cognitive neuroscience,” although many fundamental issues have yet to be resolved. It is argued that studying culture within a unifying evolutionary framework has the potential to integrate a number of separate disciplines within the social sciences.</abstract><subject><genre>keywords</genre><topic>cultural anthropology</topic><topic>cultural evolution</topic><topic>cultural transmission</topic><topic>culture</topic><topic>evolution</topic><topic>evolutionary archaeology</topic><topic>evolutionary biology</topic><topic>gene-culture coevolution</topic><topic>memes</topic><topic>social learning.</topic></subject><relatedItem type="host"><titleInfo><title>Behavioral and Brain Sciences</title></titleInfo><genre type="journal" authority="ISTEX" authorityURI="https://publication-type.data.istex.fr" valueURI="https://publication-type.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/JMC-0GLKJH51-B">journal</genre><identifier type="ISSN">0140-525X</identifier><identifier type="eISSN">1469-1825</identifier><identifier type="PublisherID">BBS</identifier><part><date>2006</date><detail type="volume"><caption>vol.</caption><number>29</number></detail><detail type="issue"><caption>no.</caption><number>4</number></detail><extent unit="pages"><start>329</start><end>347</end><total>19</total></extent></part></relatedItem><identifier type="istex">FA01E43823ED7F13221EE7FBC0E63980ECB96865</identifier><identifier type="ark">ark:/67375/6GQ-XL4TGP4R-2</identifier><identifier type="DOI">10.1017/S0140525X06009083</identifier><identifier type="PII">S0140525X06009083</identifier><identifier type="PMID">17094820</identifier><accessCondition type="use and reproduction" contentType="copyright">2006 Cambridge University Press</accessCondition><recordInfo><recordContentSource authority="ISTEX" authorityURI="https://loaded-corpus.data.istex.fr" valueURI="https://loaded-corpus.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/XBH-G3RCRD03-V">cambridge</recordContentSource><recordOrigin>2006 Cambridge University Press</recordOrigin></recordInfo></mods><json:item><extension>json</extension><original>false</original><mimetype>application/json</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/FA01E43823ED7F13221EE7FBC0E63980ECB96865/metadata/json</uri></json:item></metadata><annexes><json:item><extension>gif</extension><original>true</original><mimetype>image/gif</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/FA01E43823ED7F13221EE7FBC0E63980ECB96865/annexes/gif</uri></json:item></annexes><serie></serie></istex></record>Pour manipuler ce document sous Unix (Dilib)
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|texte= Towards a unified science of cultural evolution
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