Abstrakt
From a biosemiotic perspective, is there any reason to view cultural and biological evolution as two distinct processes? What is cultural evolution and how can cultural processes be differentiated from life processes? Biological and cultural evolution are often seen intimately linked, whereby the latter is considered a daughter of the former. At the same time, they are frequently viewed as counterpoints which may lead to opposite results.
That, however, says little about any differences between the biological and the cultural aspect of evolution. One finds a similar contrast in Darwin's theory of biological evolution, where sexual selection often counteracts natural selection.
Cultural evolution thus should not be viewed as something extrinsic to biological evolution: while sometimes it acts independently or even against the processes we regard as purely 'biological', in other instances it works in synergy with biological processes.