La analogía funcional como estrategia de replicación de la información cultural

  1. José Henrique Pérez-Rodríguez
Journal:
El Genio Maligno: revista de humanidades y ciencias sociales

ISSN: 1988-3927

Year of publication: 2016

Issue Title: Espejos

Issue: 19

Type: Article

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More publications in: El Genio Maligno: revista de humanidades y ciencias sociales

Abstract

Human cultural transmission exhibits a certain paradox: despite relying on an inferential process, it is characterized by having reached a relative degree of fidelity and therefore being able to experience cumulative evolutionary processes. Categorization and the use of conventionalized coordination devices as a means of social homogenization of information partially explain the relative success of humans in inferring others’ intentions. However, they do not give an account of how replicated information, besides being formed by discrete ‘pieces’ which are similar to the original ones, exhibits a supposedly similar or, at least, functionally equivalent self-organizing in each individual’s mind. A hypothesis is proposed according to which in information transmission a coordination of thought between the sender and the receiver with the aim of ensuring the generation of socially conventionalized cultural structures, would become particularly relevant. In turn, a possible role of this shared system in supporting the very processes of individual categorization is discussed, and a replication model based on a selective restriction on the receiver’s acquisition of information from the environment is proposed.

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