-
16Pandemic and infodemic: the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 from a cultural evolutionary perspectiveBiology and Philosophy 38 (5): 1-24. 2023.In this paper, we critically consider the analogy between “infodemic” and “pandemic”, i.e. the spread of fake news about COVID-19 as a medial virus and the infection with the biological virus itself from the perspective of cultural evolutionary theory (CET). After confronting three major shortcomings of the ‘infodemic’ concept, we use CET as a background framework to analyze this phenomenon. To do so, we summarize which bi-ases are crucial for transmission in terms of cultural selection and how …Read more
-
14From Games to Graphs: Evolving Networks in Cultural EvolutionIn Agathe du Crest, Martina Valković, André Ariew, Hugh Desmond, Philippe Huneman & Thomas A. C. Reydon (eds.), Evolutionary Thinking Across Disciplines: Problems and Perspectives in Generalized Darwinism, Springer Verlag. pp. 2147483647-2147483647. 2023.What is it that evolves in cultural evolution? This is a question easily posed but not so easily answered. According to common interpretations of cultural evolutionary theory, it is not strictly agents that change over time or proliferate during cultural transmission, but their socially transmitted behavior, what they communicate or acquire via social learning – in short: their interactions. This means that we have to put these cultural interactions into an evolutionary setting and show how they…Read more
-
11Ludger Pries: Verstehende Kooperation – Herausforderungen für Soziologie und Evolutionsforschung im Anthropozän. Campus: Frankfurt/New York 2021, 446 pp., €34,95, ISBN 978-3-593-51464-2 (review)Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 54 (4): 621-624. 2023.
-
20The Many Faces of Generalizing the Theory of EvolutionAmerican Philosophical Quarterly 58 (1): 35-50. 2021.Ever since proposals for generalizing the theory of natural evolution have been put forward, the aims and ambitions of both proponents and critics have differed widely. Some consider such proposals as merely metaphors, some as analogies, some aim at a real generalization and unification, and some have even proposed to work out full reductions. In this paper it is argued that these different forms of generalizing the theory of evolution can be systematically re-framed as different approaches for …Read more
-
4Report on the 6th Conference of the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA17), 6-9 September 2017Kriterion - Journal of Philosophy 31 (3): 103-106. 2017.
-
540Cultural Inheritance in Generalized DarwinismPhilosophy of Science 87 (2): 237-261. 2020.Generalized Darwinism models cultural development as an evolutionary process, where traits evolve through variation, selection, and inheritance. Inheritance describes either a discrete unit’s transmission or a mixing of traits. In this article, we compare classical models of cultural evolution and generalized population dynamics with respect to blending inheritance. We identify problems of these models and introduce our model, which combines relevant features of both. Blending is implemented as …Read more
-
14Kulturelle Evolution und die Rolle von MemenPeter-Lang Verlag. 2015.Das Buch untersucht die Mechanismen der kulturellen Evolution, insbesondere die Rolle von Memen – kulturelle Muster also, die von Generation zu Generation weitergereicht werden. Gesellschaften durchlaufen einen evolutionären Prozess, Prinzipien wie Variation, Selektion und Reproduktion können als abstrakte Eigenschaften dynamischer Systeme verstanden werden. Sie finden sowohl Anwendung bei der Entwicklung von Organismen als auch bei kulturell erworbenen Verhaltensweisen. Dies ist der Erklärungsa…Read more
-
29Investigating populations in generalized DarwinismBiology and Philosophy 35 (1): 1-27. 2020.Darwinian evolution is a population-level phenomenon. This paper deals with a structural population concept within the framework of generalized Darwinism, resp. within a generalized theory of evolution. According to some skeptical authors, GD is in need of a valid population concept in order to become a practicable research program. Populations are crucial and basic elements of any evolutionary explanation—biological or cultural—and have to be defined as clearly as possible. I suggest the “causa…Read more
-
42Emergence of Public Meaning from a Teleosemantic and Game Theoretical PerspectiveKriterion - Journal of Philosophy 33 (1): 23-52. 2019.The generalized theory of evolution suggests that evolutionary algorithms apply to biological and cultural processes like language alike. Variation, selection and reproduction constitute abstract and formal traits of complex, open and often self-regulating systems. Accepting this basic assumption provides us with a powerful background methodology for this investigation: explaining the emergence and proliferation of semantic patterns, that become conventional. A teleosemantic theory of public (co…Read more
-
6Report on the 6th Conference of the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA17)Kriterion - Journal of Philosophy 31 (3): 103-106. 2017.
Areas of Specialization
1 more
Philosophy of Biology |
Darwinism |
General Philosophy of Science |
Evolutionary Game Theory |
Evolution of Language |
Philosophy of Mind |