WHAT MEMES ARE

The ontological analogy

The ontological analogy between biological evolution and culture compares genes and ideational units of culture, such as ideas, beliefs, rules for behaviour or values. As the evolution of species is today defined as change in gene frequencies, a change in the basic bookkeeping units of heredity, it is assumed that culture has similar basic building blocks: units of cultural heredity that can be used to keep the book of cultural change. Dawkins (1976) called these building blocks memes, in analogy to genes. There are two assumptions in the ontological analogy between genes and memes: first, there are such ideational units of cultural heredity and, second, they are replicators.

The ontological analogy might well be valuable, even though the origination analogy is flawed. The value of the first is independent of the value of the latter: although culture is based on guided variation, memes can be replicators, even in the narrow sense.

The anthropological concept of culture

Etymologically, the term “culture” comes from the Latin term colere. It means the tending of natural growth or husbandry. Cicero, who used the term cultura animi for the tending of the soul, made the first known application beyond the sphere of agriculture. This concept of culture, referring to the enhancement of the soul, is still found in the French Enlightenment concept of culture as civilization – the universal progress of humanity.