Darwinizing Culture edited by Robert Aunger, Oxford University Press,
拢19.99, ISBN 0192632442
METAPHOR and analogy are frail foundations for a brave new science,
especially when the imagery is genetic and the field鈥檚 focus is human culture.
But if you need a guide into the murky heart of memetics, look no further than
the essays in Darwinizing Culture, which are a fine illustration of the
murkiness at the heart of memetics, admirably framed by Bob Aunger鈥檚
introduction and conclusion.
As memetics is barely out of the cradle, it鈥檚 not surprising that this book
reveals the discipline鈥檚 growing pains. There are two central problems. The
first is that we need a firm definition of memes, and evidence that they exist.
Secondly, there needs to be true collaboration between natural and social
scientists in pursuit of this project. Adam Kuper and Maurice Bloch鈥檚
demonstration of how 鈥渕emeticists鈥� are reinventing the anthropological wheel
stands in poignant contrast to the readiness of other contributors to ignore the
social science literature.
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Maybe we should be developing a concept of evolutionary cultural studies,
rather than trying to define a new science. A fruitful step in this direction
would be biologist Kevin Laland and John Odling-Smee鈥檚 idea of niche
construction and environmental inheritance鈥攖he idea that in acting on
their environment throughout their lives, creatures can change selective
pressures on the next generation. Sounds like a good starting point for
investigating the 鈥渘atural鈥� roots of human culture to me.
