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Biology and social life: book review/Biologie et vie sociale: note de lecture: The trouble with memes: deconstructing Dawkins's monster

An Essay Review of The Selfish Meme: A Critical Reappraisal by Kate Distin and Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution by Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd

54 Hassart Street, HB4, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA, alex.walter{at}rutgers.edu

The essay explores the adequacy of the `meme' concept to explain the basic mechanism of cultural evolution. Distin's defense of `memetics' is deficient because it is based on a flawed analogy with genetics. Although Richerson and Boyd's `cultural variant' is not based on a flawed analogy with genetics, their alternative appears primarily to be operant conditioning in disguise and presents no novel innovations in learning theory. Both models of gene—culture co-evolution are examples of one-sided cultural determinism with no genuine biological component. Analysis of the information metaphysics of memes and cultural variants reveals that both concepts are also committed to mind—body dualism.

Key Words: Co-evolution • Cultural variants • Culturgens • Dual inheritance • Evolutionary psychology • Gene • culture • Memes • Memetics • Sociobiology

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Social Science Information, Vol. 46, No. 4, 691-709 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0539018407082597


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Walter, A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?