Culture and Transitions in Individuality
In Luiz Dutra & Alexandre Meyer Luz (eds.), Rumos da Epistemologia v. 11. Santa Catarina, Brazil: Núcleo de Epistemologia e Lógica. pp. 395-408 (2011)
Abstract
Some "major" evolutionary transitions have been described as transitions in individuality. In this depiction, natural selection might bring about new kinds of individuals, whose evolutionary dynamics takes place in a novel way. Using a categorization proposed by Godfrey-Smith, this transition is fully accomplished when a new "paradigmatic" Darwinian population emerges. In this paper I investigate whether at some point in the evolution in the hominin lineage a transition of this kind might have happened, by assuming some of the theses of dual inheritance theory, especially about the role played by a conformist bias. I argue that Godfrey-Smith misses in his book a scenario in which conformism is one of the preconditions for a transition towards a Darwinian population of cultural groups.
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2015-09-07
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39 ( #51,690 of 56,905 )
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7 ( #52,739 of 56,905 )
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