RICHARDA DAWKINSA KONCEPCJA UNIWERSALNEGO DARWINIZMU A PRÓBY NATURALISTYCZNEGO WYJAŚNIANIA KULTURY

The idea of universal Darwinism is not new. It can be traced already in the K. Darwin’s works. Today, it comes back to life with a vengeance, especially through the publication of the British evolutionist Richard Dawkins. In the opinion of supporters of universal Darwinism, in all conditions where there is a population of multiplying objects that do not produce identical copies, and there is a selection, by which not all objects survive, there is a Darwinian evolution. The algorithmic character of evolution becomes the basis for justifying the application of Darwinian mechanisms to explain the phenomenon of human culture. In the article the concept of universal Darwinism altogether with its historical context is presented. The idea becomes the basis to provide naturalistic theories of culture and its evolution namely weak and strong theory of gene-culture coevolution. Some critical analysis of presented concepts is also submited.