Biologizácia kultúry alebo môže Dawkinsova predstava mému objasniť evolúciu kultúry?
Biologisation of culture or can Dawkins‘ Idea of Meme explain cultural evolution?

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this lecture is a critical analysis of „memetics“ as a theory explaining an aspect of the historical cultural development. The basis of my analysis is the work of R. Dawkins, who attempted to grasp cultural development through the categories of evolution. According to Dawkins, cultural development can be seen as analogous to biological evolution. Based on this idea, he formulated a hypothesis of the existence of the cultural meme and developed the memetic conception of culture. Memes are information units situated in the brain, while each literary, musical, and other artistic skills are manifestations of these memes. However, a memetic conception of culture can be justified as adequate only if it determines the relationships between biological and cultural terms. Attempts to determine these relationships are met with various problems. Memetics has many advantages, yet it provokes criticism and raises many controversial questions. On the other hand, it re-opens the perspective of the unification of the humanities and natural sciences, going back to the unity characteristic for the period of classical Greek philosophy. The lecture attempts to clarify or justify some of the issues and notions of memetics.

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