演化知識論是指用生物演化的觀點來看待人類如何建立並累積知識,特別是科學理論。此理論認為知識經由某種選擇而演化,例如疾病細菌學說(germ theory of disease)根據週遭其他知識(包括證據)的不同而改變而可信度。這是一種自然主義的知識論論述,它強調知識建立過程中,天擇扮演的兩個角色:一是生物的天擇演化確保我們的感官和認知能力是可靠的,可以適應我們的周遭環境,二是知識本身經由試誤的過程中被選擇而演化。演化知識論的特點之一是認為科學理論的實用性並非只由實驗證明,還要經由社會和方法論的過程來選擇出最「適應」於回答某個科學問題的理論。從演化知識論的觀點,所有的理論都只是在某些條件下為真,而非絕對正確或錯誤,不管它通過了哪些實證檢驗;光是通過嚴謹的實驗並不足以證明一個理論可以在未來的實驗中存活。卡爾·波普爾以古典物理為例,指出牛頓物理通過了非常詳盡的試驗,但最後仍被愛因斯坦的理論擊敗。許多人認為卡爾·波普爾是第一個完整分析演化知識論的人,但唐納德·T·坎貝爾(Donald T. Campbell)在 1974 年就已經提出這個詞。[14]
現代意義的文化演化是由唐納德·T·坎貝爾(Donald T Campbell)奠基。他在 1960 年指出賴特的生物演化概念可以文化的演變作類比,創意可以經由「無目標的變異加上選擇性的保留」而演化[21]。之後他在 1965 年發展成完整的學說。在他心目中,文化演化並不是奠基自生物演化的類比,而是源自更基本的一套「類目的論」(quasi-teleological)機制,生物演化和文化演化都只是其中的特例。[22]
同時期另一個值得一提的是人類學家 F·T·克羅克(F. T. Cloak),他區分物質文化(m-culture,例如各種科技)和習得的文化指令(i-culture,腦中的指令),兩者互相影響,並且也受外在環境施加的天擇壓力而改變[23][24]。文化演化是否需要神經指令的爭論由此開始,持續至今[25]。
^Korotayev, Andrey. World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-cultural Perspective First. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. 2004: 1–8. ISBN 0-7734-6310-0.
^Tivel, David E. 3: Evolution: Cultures and Ethnicity. Evolution: The Universe, Life, Cultures, Ethnicity, Religion, Science, and Technology. Pittsburgh: Dorrance Publishing. 2012: 89 [2017-10-14]. ISBN 9781434918161. Cultural evolution as a theory in anthropology was developed in the nineteenth century as an outgrowth of Darwinian evolution. It is the process by which structural reorganization is affected through time, eventually producing a form or structure which is qualitatively different from the ancestral form.
^Mesoudi, Alex. Cultural Evolution: How Darwinian theory can explain human culture and synthesize the social sciences. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. 2011. ISBN 9780226520445.
^Frank L. Elwell. Sociocultural Systems: Principles of Structure and Change. Athabasca University Press. 2013-02-01: 103 [2018-02-12]. ISBN 978-1-927356-20-3. (原始内容存档于2020-08-19). Throughout human history, there have probably been over one million different societies; Lenski (2005, 74) posits that, at the end of the hunting-and-gathering era, there were between 100,000 and 300,000 societies in existence.[...] Today, there are at most two hundred, and these are highly unrepresentative of the total throughout history.
^ 8.08.1[1] (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) Reconsidering Cultural Selection Theory, Crozier, G. K. D, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 59 (3), Sept 2008, DOI: 10.1093/bjps/axn018
^ 9.09.1Towards a Unified Science of Cultural Evolution, Mesoudi A. Whiten A. Laland K. N., Behavioural and Brain Sciences (2006), 29, 329-383, Cambridge University Press.
^[2] (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) The history of cultural selection theory, Cultural selection, Agner Fog, 1999
^Adaptation and Cultural Diffusion. Ormrod, Richard K. Journal of Geography, v91 n6 p258-62 Nov-Dec 1992
^[3] (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) Evolutionary Archaeology, Semiotics Encyclopedia Online, E.J. Pratt Library - Victoria University
^(Schilpp, 1974)Schilpp, P. A., ed. The Philosophy of Karl R. Popper. LaSalle, IL. Open Court. 1974. See Campbell's essay, "Evolutionary Epistemology" on pp. 412–463.
^ 17.017.1Richerson, P.J. and Boyd. R. (2010) The Darwinian theory of human cultural evolution and gene-culture coevolution. Chapter 20 in Evolution Since Darwin: The First 150 Years. M.A. Bell, D.J. Futuyma, W.F. Eanes, and J.S. Levinton, (eds.) Sinauer, pp. 561-588.
^Price, I. (2012b) Organizational Ecologies and Declared Realities, In K. Alexander and I. Price (eds.) Managing Organizational Ecologies: Space, Management and Organization. New York, Routledge, 11-22.
^ 22.022.1Campbell, D. T. (1965). "Variation and selective retention in socio-cultural evolution". Social Change in Developing Areas, a Reinterpretation of Evolutionary Theory.
^Cloak, F. T. (1975). "Is a Cultural Ethology Possible?". Human Ecology 3(3) 161–182.
^Cloak, F. T. (1968). "Cultural Darwinism: Natural selection of the spoked wheel"
^Cziko, Gary (1995) Without Miracles: Universal Selection Theory and the Second Darwinian Revolution (MIT Press)
^E. O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, New York, Knopf, 1998.
^Acerbi, A. & Mesoudi, A. If we are all cultural Darwinians what’s the fuss about? Clarifying recent disagreements in the field of cultural evolution. Biol Philos. 2015, 30: 481. doi:10.1007/s10539-015-9490-2.
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