Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T04:10:46.345Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 6 - Cumulative Cultural Evolution

from Part II - Phylogeny and History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2024

Markus Pantsar
Affiliation:
Aachen University of Technology
Get access

Summary

In Chapter 6, I discuss the way knowledge and skills evolve culturally. Starting from the notion of cumulative cultural evolution, I show how the emergence of arithmetical knowledge and skills can be understood as the product of trans-generational cultural evolution. Cumulative cultural evolution, however, requires a particular type of social learning, called cultural learning in the literature. To make sense of this problematic notion, I propose the non-circular characterisation of cultural learning as learning that takes place through processes of passing information that are clearer, less ambiguous and more enduring than other forms of social learning. I also present an account of how innovation of new contents is possible in the framework of cultural learning and cumulative cultural evolution. Finally, I evaluate the five predictions made in Chapter 3 from the perspective of phylogeny and cultural history.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Cumulative Cultural Evolution
  • Markus Pantsar, Aachen University of Technology
  • Book: Numerical Cognition and the Epistemology of Arithmetic
  • Online publication: 15 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009468862.010
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Cumulative Cultural Evolution
  • Markus Pantsar, Aachen University of Technology
  • Book: Numerical Cognition and the Epistemology of Arithmetic
  • Online publication: 15 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009468862.010
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Cumulative Cultural Evolution
  • Markus Pantsar, Aachen University of Technology
  • Book: Numerical Cognition and the Epistemology of Arithmetic
  • Online publication: 15 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009468862.010
Available formats
×