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SUMMARY:Ecological factors of attraction and causal explanation in cultura
 l attractor theory - Andrew Buskell (Department of History and Philosophy 
 of Science)
DTSTART:20170301T130000Z
DTEND:20170301T143000Z
UID:TALK70723@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:31287
DESCRIPTION:Cultural Attractor Theory (CAT) employs what they call ‘fact
 ors of \nattraction’ to explain the distribution and form of cultural va
 riants. \nCAT theorists differentiate ecological from psychological factor
 s of \nattraction\, yet vary in their commitment as to whether psychologic
 al \nfactors of attraction should occupy a privileged explanatory role. He
 re \nI argue that CAT should\, in fact\, privilege the psychological. CAT 
 \nexplanations appeal to a distinctive causal-explanatory relationship \nc
 alled biasing. This characterises the fine-grained way in which factors \n
 of attraction influence the acquisition and expression of cultural \nvaria
 nts. After identifying and clarifying biasing\, I argue that \npsychologic
 al factors of attraction enter into such relationships. By \ncontrast\, ec
 ological factors of attraction do not. While these latter \nfactors are no
 t causally irrelevant to explaining the distribution and \nform of cultura
 l variants\, they exert coarse-grained ‘switch-like’ \neffects—const
 raining the evolvability of culture.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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