Darwinizing Culture : The Status of Memetics as a Science

Dealing with the debate over the highly controversial field of memetics, this title features leading intellectuals, both supporters and opponents of meme theory, who state their case. It is intended for psychologists, biologists, philosophers, linguists, and anthropologists.

The publication in 1998 of Susan Blackmore''s bestselling ''The meme machine'' re-awakened the debate over the highly controverial field of memetics. In the past couple of years, there has been an explosion of interest in ''memes''. The one thing noticably missing though, has been any kind of proper debate over the validity of a concept regarded by many as scientifically suspect. Darwinizing culture: the status of memetics as a science pits leading intellectuals, (both supporters and opponents of meme theory), against eachother to battle it out, and state their case. With a foreword by Daniel Dennett, and contributions from Dan Sperber, David Hull, Robert Boyd, Susan Blackmore, Henry Plotkin, and others, the result is a thrilling and challenging debate that will perhaps mark a turning point for the field, and for future research. Superbly edited by Robert Aunger, Darwinizing culture is a thought provoking book, that will fascinate, stimulate, (and occasionally perhaps infuriate) a broad range of readers including, psychologists, biologists, philosophers, linguists, and anthropologists.