Table Of Content

Half-title Page: i Title Page: iii Copyright Page: iv Contents Page: v 1 Introduction Page: 1 2 The Meme Hypothesis Page: 6 Genetic Evolution Page: 6 Natural Selection Page: 6 Genetics Page: 7 Why Accept Gene Theory? Page: 8 The Meme Hypothesis Page: 9 The Gene-Meme Analogy Page: 11 Why Accept the Meme Hypothesis? Page: 12 Sociobiology Page: 14 Towards an Adequate Theory of Cultural Evolution Page: 16 3 Cultural DNA Page: 18 Information and Its Effects Page: 19 Representational Content: The DNA of Culture Page: 20 Representational Content–a Technical Interlude Page: 21 Simple Indicator Theory Page: 21 The Disjunctive Problem Page: 23 The Philosophers’ Frog Page: 24 Ben’s Lucky Mistake Page: 25 Types of Property Page: 26 Different Sorts of Representation Page: 28 Nonassociative Learning: Representations as “Switches” Page: 28 Internal Properties Page: 29 Internal Properties and Lucky Mistakes Page: 30 Indeterminate Content? Page: 31 Associative Learning Page: 33 The Story So Far Page: 34 Representational Content: The DNA of Culture Page: 35 Conclusions Page: 37 4 The Replication of Complex Culture Page: 39 How Is Cultural Information Copied? Page: 39 The Replication of Complexity Page: 41 Genetic Replication Page: 43 Memetic Replication Page: 43 Memes Versus Genes Page: 46 Conclusions Page: 47 5 Variation Page: 48 Innovation and Genes Page: 48 Innovation and Memes: Mutation Page: 50 Memetic Innovation as a Mental Process Page: 51 Innovation and Memes: Recombination Page: 52 Memes and Their Alleles Page: 54 Too Much Variation? Page: 56 Conclusions Page: 56 6 Selection Page: 57 Factors in Memetic Selection Page: 58 The Memetic Environment Page: 59 The Physical Environment Page: 61 The Genetic Environment Page: 61 Human Psychology Page: 62 Memetic Content Page: 64 Relative Fitness Page: 65 Conclusions Page: 67 7 The Story So Far Page: 68 Selection Page: 68 Replication Page: 69 Variation Page: 70 Memes and the Mind Page: 70 8 The Human Mind: Meme Complex with a Virus? Page: 72 Richard Dawkins Page: 72 Good Memes Versus Mental Viruses Page: 73 Science: Meme or Virus? Page: 74 Parasites Versus “Bad” Replicators Page: 75 Viruses: A Biological Detail Page: 76 Daniel Dennett Page: 77 Confusion Number One: Where Do Memes Come From? Page: 78 Vocabulary Page: 78 Confusion Number Two: Vehicles Versus Phenotypic Effects Page: 79 Confusio Number Three: Representatio Versus That Which Is Represented Page: 80 Dawkins and Dennett Page: 82 Memes and the Mind Page: 83 Where Are Memes? Page: 84 The Extended Phenotype: Genes Page: 85 The Extended Phenotype: Dennett Page: 86 The Mind: Product of Genes or Memes? Page: 87 The Extended Phenotype: Memes Page: 88 The Result Page: 89 9 The Meme’s Eye View Page: 92 Copy-the-Product Versus Copy-the-Instructions Page: 92 Not Copying the Product Page: 93 Memes and Their Effects Page: 95 Memetic “Drive” Page: 95 Meme Fountains Page: 96 Religion as an Example of Memetic Drive Page: 97 Problems for Memetic Drive Page: 98 Imitation Page: 100 What Is “Imitation”? Page: 101 Does Culture Replicate At All? Page: 102 Dan Sperber Page: 102 Sperber’s Test for Replication Page: 104 Dawkins’s Test for Replication Page: 104 Sperber Versus Dawkins Page: 105 Back to Sperber Page: 106 Sperber’s Test: A Problem for Memes? Page: 107 Robert Boyd and Peter J. Richerson Page: 108 Replication Versus Inference Page: 109 Replication Versus “Averaging” Page: 110 Conclusions Page: 112 Imitation: A Recap Page: 112 Memes and the Mind Page: 115 10 Early Cultural Evolution Page: 116 The Emergence of Genes Page: 116 Culture’s “Primeval Soup” Page: 118 Behavioural Patterns Page: 121 An Example Page: 123 Innate Prerequisites for Primitive Replicators Page: 124 What Is Special About Memes? Page: 128 Innate Prerequisites for Concepts Page: 130 Brain Size Page: 130 Comparing Representations Page: 132 Meta-Representation Today Page: 133 Which Replicators Count as Memes? Page: 135 Imitation Again Page: 135 Different Levels of Imitation Page: 136 Memes and Moder Human Culture Page: 139 The Beginnings of Memetic Evolution Page: 139 Conclusions Page: 141 11 Memetic DNA Page: 142 Words Page: 142 Memes as Words? Page: 143 There’s More to Language Than Words Page: 144 Words and Their Meanings Page: 144 How Powerful Are Words? Page: 145 Memes as Words–or Language? Page: 146 Language: A Representational System Page: 147 Representational Systems Page: 147 Back to Genes Page: 148 Memetic RSs Page: 149 Different RSs Page: 150 Meta-Representation Again Page: 152 The Significance of Non-Linguistic RSs Page: 152 Comparing RSs Page: 153 Robert Aunger Page: 154 Particulate Memes Page: 157 What Does Common Sense Dictate? Page: 158 Information and Actions Page: 159 Translation Versus Transformation Page: 160 Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Device Page: 161 The Uniformity of Language Page: 162 Nonuniform Nonlinguistic RSs Page: 162 The Meta-Representation Device Page: 163 Conclusions Page: 167 12 Memes and the Mind Page: 168 Beliefs as Memes? Page: 169 The Mind as a Muscle Page: 170 The Parable of the Sower Page: 171 Directed Evolution? Page: 173 Engineering Design Methods Page: 174 “Design Evolution” Page: 176 Evolution and Design Reconciled Page: 181 Different Points of View Page: 182 Conclusion Page: 183 13 Science, Religion and Society: What Can Memes Tell Us? Page: 185 Science Page: 185 Religion Page: 189 Contradictions from Genetics Page: 194 Suicide Page: 195 Contraception Page: 196 14 Conclusions Page: 197 The Meme Hypothesis Page: 197 Replication: A Process of Assembly Page: 198 Particulate Memes Page: 198 Representational Content: Memetic DNA Page: 199 One DNA; Many RSs Page: 201 Where Are Memes? Page: 201 Human Minds and Culture Page: 202 Variation and Selection Page: 204 The Selfish Meme: A Critical Reassessment Page: 205 Acknowledgements Page: 209 Notes Page: 211 Chapter 1 Introduction Page: 211 Chapter 2 The Meme Hypothesis Page: 211 Chapter 3 Cultural DNA Page: 211 Chapter 4 The Replication of Complex Culture Page: 212 Chapter 5 Variation Page: 212 Chapter 6 Selection Page: 212 Chapter 8 The Human Mind: Meme Complex with a Virus? Page: 212 Chapter 9 The Meme’s Eye View Page: 213 Chapter 10 Early Cultural Evolution Page: 214 Chapter 11 Memetic DNA Page: 215 Chapter 12 Memes and the Mind Page: 215 Chapter 13 Science, Religion and Society: What Can Memes Tell Us? Page: 216 Chapter 14 Conclusions Page: 216 Bibliography Page: 217 Index Page: 225

Description:

Culture is a unique and fascinating aspect of the human species. How did it emerge and how does it develop? Richard Dawkins suggested culture evolves and that memes are cultural replicators, subject to variation and selection in the same way as genes are in the biological world. Thus human culture is the product of a mindless evolutionary algorithm. Does this imply, as some have argued, that we are mere meme machines and that the conscious self is an illusion? This highly readable and accessible book extends Dawkins's theory, presenting for the first time a fully developed concept of cultural DNA. Distin argues that culture's development can be seen as the result of memetic evolution and as the product of human creativity. Memetic evolution is perfectly compatible with the view of humans as conscious and intelligent. This book should find a wide readership amongst philosophers, psychologists, sociologists and non-academic readers.