Abstract (may include machine translation)
The article addresses the question whether culture evolves in a Lamarckian manner. I highlight three central aspects of a Lamarckian concept of evolution: the inheritance of acquired characteristics, the transformational pattern of evolution, and the concept of directed changes. A clear exposition of these aspects shows that a system can be a Darwinian variational system instead of a Lamarckian transformational one, even if it is based on inheritance of acquired characteristics and/or on Lamarckian directed changes. On this basis, I apply the three aspects to culture. Taking for granted that culture is a variational system, based on selection processes, I discuss in detail the senses in which cultural inheritance can be said to be Lamarckian and in which sense problem solving, a major factor in cultural change, leads to directed variation.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 493-512 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Biology and Philosophy |
Volume | 22 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2007 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Cultural evolution
- Directed variation
- Inheritance of acquired characteristics
- Lamarckism
- Memes
- Problem solving
- Transformational evolution