Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Ruse, Michael

Titel

Cultural evolution

Ist Teil von

• Theory and decision, 1974-12, Vol.5 (4), p.413-440

Ort / Verlag

Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers

Erscheinungsjahr

1974

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

SpringerLINK Contemporary (Konsortium Baden-Württemberg)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• THE BIOLOGICAL THEORY OF EVOLUTION, AS DEVELOPED FROM DARWIN'S THEORIES, STRESSES THE EMERGENCE OF THOSE TRAITS WHICH LEAD TO RELATIVE REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS. WHEN APPLIED TO HUMAN BEINGS, THIS THEORY FACES THE EXISTENCE OF HUMAN CULTURES, WHOSE VARIATION & CHANGE TAKES PLACE TOO QUICKLY TO AFFECT OR BE AFFECTED BY BIOLOGICAL CHANGE TO ANY GREAT EXTENT. HUMAN CULTURE ALSO HAS ADAPTIVE SIGNIFICANCE. THE POSSIBLE BENEFICIARIES & VICTIMS OF CULTURAL OR BIOLOGICAL ADAPTATIONS ARE SCHEMATIZED IN PARALLEL WAYS. ADAPTABILITY IN BIOLOGICAL TERMS CAN BE IN ANY OF 3 FORMS: (1) REVERSIBLE CHANGES IN THE ADULT ORGANISM, (2) IRREVERSIBLE CHANGES DURING MATURATION DEPENDENT ON THE TYPE OF ENVIRONMENT ENCOUNTERED, OR (3) CHANGES IN THE POPULATION'S GENETIC MAKEUP. CULTURAL ADAPTABILITY TAKES PARALLEL FORMS. MALADAPTIVE TRAITS CAN OCCUR IN BOTH SPHERES. ONE KEY DIFFERENCE LIES IN THE VALUE OF ADAPTATIONS IN BIOLOGICAL SPHERES LYING SOLELY IN REPRODUCTION, WHILE CULTURAL ADAPTATIONS MAY BE EVALUATED IN TERMS OF THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO SURVIVAL & WELFARE, EVEN OF THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE NOT CONTRIBUTING TO REPRODUCTION. CULTURAL CHANGE, UNLIKE BIOLOGICAL CHANGE, CAN EMERGE FROM FEELINGS OF NEED. THE TESTING OF THEORIES OF CULTURAL EVOLUTION POSES CERTAIN PROBLEMS; SOME CULTURES HAVE CEASED TO EXIST--PRESUMABLY EVIDENCE OF MALADAPTATION. MODIFIED HA.