The role of categorization as a way of fidelity preservation in cultural transmission

This paper deals with the problem of identifying cultural replicators and providing a plausible replication model for culture. Depending on what kind of information is considered to be replicated, the different evolutionary models of cultural transmission are clustered into three main groups which a...

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Main Author: José Henrique Pérez Rodríguez
Format: Article
Language:Catalan
Published: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 2018-03-01
Series:Athenea Digital
Subjects:
Online Access:https://atheneadigital.net/article/view/1931
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author José Henrique Pérez Rodríguez
author_facet José Henrique Pérez Rodríguez
author_sort José Henrique Pérez Rodríguez
collection DOAJ
description This paper deals with the problem of identifying cultural replicators and providing a plausible replication model for culture. Depending on what kind of information is considered to be replicated, the different evolutionary models of cultural transmission are clustered into three main groups which are referred to as externalism, internalism and multi-substratism. From these, internalism is argued to be the most plausible position, but it fails in explaining how cultural information can be faithfully replicated in our species despite essentially depending on individual processes of intentional inference. It is concluded that no author seems to have fittingly adopted a categorization model stemmed from a usage-based perspective, and such a model would entail a feedback dynamic in category formation which could allow for an a posteriori purification of the input information flow. This way, categorization would partially equate the role of DNA in genetic transmission cycles.
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spelling doaj.art-9833a41be1564a9982c55976ea08e1082023-09-02T17:27:37ZcatUniversitat Autònoma de BarcelonaAthenea Digital2014-45391578-89462018-03-0118110.5565/rev/athenea.1931983The role of categorization as a way of fidelity preservation in cultural transmissionJosé Henrique Pérez Rodríguez0Universidade de VigoThis paper deals with the problem of identifying cultural replicators and providing a plausible replication model for culture. Depending on what kind of information is considered to be replicated, the different evolutionary models of cultural transmission are clustered into three main groups which are referred to as externalism, internalism and multi-substratism. From these, internalism is argued to be the most plausible position, but it fails in explaining how cultural information can be faithfully replicated in our species despite essentially depending on individual processes of intentional inference. It is concluded that no author seems to have fittingly adopted a categorization model stemmed from a usage-based perspective, and such a model would entail a feedback dynamic in category formation which could allow for an a posteriori purification of the input information flow. This way, categorization would partially equate the role of DNA in genetic transmission cycles.https://atheneadigital.net/article/view/1931ImitationCultural replicationCategorizationFidelity
spellingShingle José Henrique Pérez Rodríguez
The role of categorization as a way of fidelity preservation in cultural transmission
Athenea Digital
Imitation
Cultural replication
Categorization
Fidelity
title The role of categorization as a way of fidelity preservation in cultural transmission
title_full The role of categorization as a way of fidelity preservation in cultural transmission
title_fullStr The role of categorization as a way of fidelity preservation in cultural transmission
title_full_unstemmed The role of categorization as a way of fidelity preservation in cultural transmission
title_short The role of categorization as a way of fidelity preservation in cultural transmission
title_sort role of categorization as a way of fidelity preservation in cultural transmission
topic Imitation
Cultural replication
Categorization
Fidelity
url https://atheneadigital.net/article/view/1931
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