Andersson Claes, Törnberg Anton, Törnberg Petter
Curr Anthropol. 2014 Apr;55(2):154-63, 171-4.
Evolutionary developmental theories in biology see the processes and organization of organisms as crucial for understanding the dynamic behavior of organic evolution. Darwinian forces are seen as necessary but not sufficient for explaining observed evolutionary patterns. We here propose that the same arguments apply with even greater force to culture vis-à-vis cultural evolution. In order not to argue entirely in the abstract, we demonstrate the proposed approach by combining a set of different models into a provisional synthetic theory and by applying this theory to a number of short case studies. What emerges is a set of concepts and models that allow us to consider entirely new types of explanations for the evolution of cultures. For example, we see how feedback relations--both within societies and between societies and their ecological environment--have the power to shape evolutionary history in profound ways. The ambition here is not to produce a definitive statement on what such a theory should look like but rather to propose a starting point along with an argumentation and demonstration of its potential.
生物学中的进化发育理论认为，生物体的过程和组织对于理解有机进化的动态行为至关重要。达尔文主义力量被视为解释所观察到的进化模式的必要条件，但并不充分。我们在此提出，同样的观点在文化与文化进化方面更具说服力。为了不完全在抽象层面进行论证，我们通过将一组不同的模型整合为一个临时的综合理论，并将该理论应用于一些简短的案例研究，来展示所提出的方法。由此产生的是一组概念和模型，使我们能够考虑对文化进化的全新解释类型。例如，我们看到社会内部以及社会与其生态环境之间的反馈关系如何能够深刻地塑造进化历史。这里的目标不是就这样一种理论应该是什么样子给出确定性的陈述，而是提出一个起点，并对其潜力进行论证和展示。
