Cultural Evolution and Social Ontology by Valković, Martina; Reydon, Thomas A.C.;

Short description:

This volume explores connections between two growing fields of research: cultural evolutionary theory and social ontology. It sheds light on the ontological aspects of cultural evolution that have been largely neglected and raises questions for social ontology regarding the relevance of evolutionary aspects of social phenomena.

Long description:

This volume explores connections between two growing and complementary fields of research: cultural evolutionary theory and social ontology. It sheds light on the ontological aspects of cultural evolution that so far have been largely neglected and raises questions for social ontology regarding the relevance of evolutionary aspects of social phenomena.

This volume shows that cultural evolutionary theory and social ontology are complementary disciplines that, while having their own subject matter and their own research questions, illuminate each other in interesting ways. While the contributors vary in their approach to the relationship between social ontology and cultural evolution, they explore their many common themes, including power, language, agency, interaction, and social institutions and roles. The chapters are divided into thematic sections organized around meta-perspectives on cultural evolution and social ontology, the power concept in cultural evolution and social ontology, and themes of interactions and collectives in cultural and social evolution. Together, the chapters demonstrate how social ontology can provide critical tests of central assumptions in cultural evolutionary theory, and how cultural evolution can provide  accounts of the origins of social entities.

Cultural Evolution and Social Ontology will appeal to researchers and graduate students working in cultural evolution, social ontology, metaphysics, social philosophy, philosophy of the social sciences, philosophy of biology, and philosophy of science, as well as those working in disciplines outside philosophy, such as anthropology and sociology.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction: Building Bridges Between Fields Martina Valković and Thomas A.C. Reydon  Part 1: Metaperspectives  2. Evolutionary Theory in the Sociocultural Domain and its Critics Simon Lohse and Martina Valković  3. Naturalized Social Ontology and Cultural Evolution Richard Lauer  4. Social Functions: Evolutionary and Non-Evolutionary Frank Hindriks  Part 2: Power  5. Can Cultural Evolution Accommodate Power? Race, Gender, and Lewontin’s Critique Azita Chellappoo  6. Rethinking the Concept of ‘Power’ within Cultural Evolution: Cultural Niches as Relational Social Structures Karim Baraghith and Finn Jordan  7. Telic Power and Academic Excellence Åsa Burman and Nemi Pelgrom  Part 3: Interactions and Collectives  8. The Evolution of Coordination and Common Ground Bart Geurts  9. Collective Intentionality: From Social Ontology to Cultural Evolution and Back Marc Slors  10. Evolution and Social Ontology: The Modern Firm as a Major Transition in Cultural Evolution J.W. Stoelhorst  Part 4: Outlook  11. Bridging Research in Cultural Evolution and Social Ontology: A Perspective on Future Work Thomas A.C. Reydon and Martina Valković