Darwinism

:This article is about Darwinism as a philosophical concept; see evolution for the page on biological evolution; modern evolutionary synthesis for neo-Darwinism; and also evolution (disambiguation).

Application and examples

Most obviously, this can refer to biological evolution. However, it has other potential spheres, the best known of which is the meme, a concept of inheritance and modification of ideas introduced by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. It has been disputed if this was a Darwinian process, since it is unproven that memes undergo random mutations.

Related Topics:
Evolution - Meme - Richard Dawkins - 1976 - The Selfish Gene

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Another example to illustrate are computer systems (PCs). Taking the software as the replicator and the whole system as the interactor, it could be seen as a Darwinian system, however, the code does not change randomly, but is directionally changed or rewritten from scratch; also systems do not reproduce.

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Daniel Dennett (1995) in Darwin's Dangerous Idea argues for universal Darwinism.

Related Topics:
Daniel Dennett - Darwin's Dangerous Idea

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