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Coherence, Muller’s Ratchet, and the Maintenance of Culture
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2022
Abstract
I investigate the structure of an argument that culture cannot be maintained in a population if each individual learns only from a single person. This appears to conflict with (1) many models of cultural transmission and (2) real-world cases. I resolve the first problem by showing that one of the models central to the argument is conceptually analogous and mathematically equivalent to one used to investigate the evolution of sexual reproduction. I resolve the second by arguing that probabilistic models of epistemological coherence can be reinterpreted as models of support between cultural variants—illustrating the idea with a new model.
- Type
- Game Theory and Formal Models
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association
Footnotes
†
I am grateful for feedback from Ted Benditt, Scott Brande, Justin Bruner, Mark Colyvan, Bruce Glymour, Chris Hitchcock, Robin Jeshion, Jack Justus, Stephen Merritt, Bart Moffat, Bence Nanay, Michael Nelson, Samir Okasha, Grant Ramsey, Tonia Schwartz, Joel Velasco, Ken Waters, Bill Wimsatt, Kevin Zollman, and audience members at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Mississippi State University, the Society for Exact Philosophy (2014), and the Philosophy of Science Association (2014).
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