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The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science Advance Access published online on February 1, 2006
The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, doi:10.1093/bjps/axi157
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© The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of British Society for the Philosophy of Science. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Article

Memes Revisited

Kim Sterelny 1 *

1 Philosophy Program, Victoria University of Wellington, and Research School of the Social Sciences, Australian National University

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Kim Sterelny, E-mail: Kim.Sterelny{at}vuw.ac.nz


  Abstract

In this paper, I argue that the adaptive fit between human cultures and their environment is persuasive evidence that some form of evolutionary mechanism has been important in driving human cultural change. I distinguish three mechanisms of cultural evolution: niche construction leading to cultural group selection; the vertical flow of cultural information from parents to their children, and the replication and spread of memes. I further argue that both cultural group selection and the vertical flow of cultural information have been important. More conjecturally, I identify a potential role for meme-based cultural evolution in the explanation of the ‘human revolution’ of the last 100 000 or so years, and defuse an important objection to that explanation.

1 Introduction

2 Cultural groups

3 The cultural invention of adaptive complexes

4 Niche construction models

5 Dual inheritance

6 Memes

7 Memes or minds?

8 Conclusion


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