The Darwinian Resurgence and the Cultural Virus Critique

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Abstract
While the greater part of recent theoretical discourse within archaeology and anthropology has revolved around the post-modernist manifesto, selectionist metaphysics have been enjoying a milder and less vociferous resurgence. This is reflected in the increasing number and diversity of neo-Darwinian approaches which are now available within cultural fields of enquiry. Two basic approaches may be identified, Sociobiology and Cultural Selectionism, and the latter of these can be further sub-divided into the ‘American’ or ‘Inclusive Phenotype’ position and the ‘Cultural Virus’ position. This paper presents a critique of the more established ‘Inclusive Phenotype’ position from the point of view of the ‘Virus’ position, and as the critique unfolds a number of logical problems are elucidated. It is stressed that this paper is not so much a presentation of the Cultural Virus Theory, as a critique of its nearest philosophical relatives.