Dear all,

The next talk in the CEU Cognitive Science seminar series will by given by:

Claes Andersson (Chalmers University of Technology).

Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2014, 5 PM

Location: Cognitive Development Center, Hattyś u. 14, 3rd floor

Title:  A Developmental Evolutionary Approach to Cultural Evolution and the Evolution of Cultural Systems.

Over the past few decades paleoanthropology has undergone an empirical revolution, with a range of new laboratory methods and improved archaeological practices. This is yielding better data and not least more types of data. One of the consequences of this development has been an increasing friction with theory. Old theory is increasingly undermined – both in terms of what it predicts and in terms of assumptions that are no longer viable. In evolutionary biology, a very similar development has taken place in the same time frame, but with the important difference that theory has been developed to catch up with the empirical picture. Much of this theory challenges quite fundamental tenets of the neo-Darwinian paradigm and focus has moved from an almost exclusive emphasis of population dynamics to the mechanisms of variation and evolution. Variation from this perspective is variation in developmental trajectories – which is what makes organization centrally important. We are exploring the possibility of building a similar evolutionary model of cultural evolution, inspired by developmental evolution and innovation theory in social science. In this context, natural pedagogy has struck us as highly interesting, as it describes something more than just a simple new capability of transmission. Allowing entirely new types of knowledge to be culturally maintained it is likely to have made possible not only new types of technology, but also new types of societies.

PLEASE NOTE: Our seminar room has a limited capacity. Please arrive early to ensure you get a seat. The talk will begin promptly at 5.

Cognitive Science Events at CEU: http://cognitivescience.ceu.hu/events

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