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25 Med. & L. 229 (2006)
The Evolution of Cultural Diversity, a Phylogenetic Approach

handle is hein.journals/mlv25 and id is 235 raw text is: Med Law (2006) 25:229-231 Medicine and Law CYOZMOT 2006 BOOK REVIEW THE EVOLUTION OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY. A PHYLOGENETIC APPROACH. Eds.Ruth Mace, Clare J. Holden & Stephen Shennan. London:UCL Press. 2005 Reviewed by Frida Simonstein, Ph.D. The idea underlying the topics in this book is based on the presumption that human adaptation is about culture as much as it is about genes. The assumption is that the study of cultural diversity from an evolutionary perspective is important in the sense that models originally devised to explore diversity across species might actually work well when applied to evolutionary studies of human cultural diversity. Since the capacity for culture, defined as socially transmitted information, separates humans from other species, it is believed that the evolution of cultural diversity has been crucial for the success of the human species. New ideas, and cultural innovation, opened up new niches and fuelled the reproductive success of individuals and ethnic groups alike; but unlike genetic evolution, the evolution of culture, is not inherited in a Mendelian way. For instance, we may have many cultural parents; similarly, we can change our cultural phenotype during our lives, and thus, cultural evolution can be very fast. Mace points out, however, that social anthropologists and evolutionary anthropologists frequently disagree about the relevance of cultural versus evolutionary processes in shaping human social behavior; this is something of a false dichotomy, as culture is also subject to evolution. In her words, there is no need to choose between genes and culture as opposing forces in the formation of human societies - both matter.' A good example which may illustrate Mace's claim is Steve Jones' notion that human bodies did not have the need to evolve because humans built machines instead.2 Another example of cultural intervention in human evolution is modem medicine and health care3 The authors in this book apply phylogenetic methods in order to understand 1. Mace, R. page 4 2. Jones, S., 1999, Almost Like a Whale. London: Transworld. 3. Simonstein, F. 2004 Selfevolution. The Ethics ofImproving Eden. (The International Center for Health Law and Ethics - Haifa University) Yozmot: Tel Aviv. 229

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