Culture–gene co-evolution: Darwin’s other theory comes into view

Abstract

Abstract The concept of ‘natural selection’, as proposed in The Origin of Species (published in 1859), refers to the better known of Charles Darwin’s two distinct theories of evolution. Darwin’s other theory was originally associated with his predecessor, Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck. (Darwin used the shorthand phrase, the ‘use and disuse of parts’, to characterize this alternative theory.) Lamarck’s theory was rejected (and even mocked) by many 20th century theorists, who instead adopted a gene-centred, one-way, bottom-up model of evolutionary change, called the modern synthesis. (It has also been termed neo-Darwinism.) Darwin was more receptive to Lamarck’s approach, and in his second great work, The Descent of Man (published in 1874), he applied this Lamarckian theory particularly to human evolution. He ascribed our remarkable evolutionary success to our behaviour: social cooperation, innovation (and tools), morality and cumulative culture. Neo-Darwinists called it Darwin’s biggest mistake. However, an ever-increasing body of evidence, inclusive of cultural phenomena in many other species, suggests that it was, in fact, their mistake. Often called gene–culture co-evolution theory, the reverse order (as used here) might be a better way of characterizing the underlying causal dynamics. The ‘purposeful’ behaviour (teleonomy) of living systems has exerted a major influence on the trajectory of biological evolution.