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Defining and explaining culture (comments on Richerson and Boyd, Not by genes alone)

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Abstract

We argue that there is a continuum of cases without any demarcation between more individual and more cultural information, and that therefore “culture” should be viewed as a property that human mental representations and practices exhibit to a varying degree rather than as a type or a subclass of these representations and practices (or of “information”). We discuss the relative role of preservative and constructive processes in transmission. We suggest a revision of Richerson and Boyd’s classification of the forces of cultural evloution.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Jean Nicod (CNRS/EHESS/ENS), 1bis avenue Lowendal, 75007, Paris, France

    Dan Sperber & Nicolas Claidière

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  1. Dan Sperber
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  2. Nicolas Claidière
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Correspondence to Dan Sperber.

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Sperber, D., Claidière, N. Defining and explaining culture (comments on Richerson and Boyd, Not by genes alone). Biol Philos 23, 283–292 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-005-9012-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-005-9012-8

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