The role of analogy and model in theories of cultural evolution: The case of memetics

Disparate and competitive theories have been proposed to explain cultural evolution, which one of the most known ones is the Memetic theory. Present article claims that proposed theories such as Memetics represent part of the culture to make them discernible by using analogies. It should be noted that any model including Memetic has been generated by abstraction and idealization and these models are not also necessary in the form of propositions, hence one should not expect such theories to be true. Two reasons are noted in this regard. Firstly, idealization is associated with distance from the truth. Secondly, only propositions are truth-bearer. In the present article, Memetics has been selected from the theories of cultural evolution as a case study, which has been tried to introduce the critiques of its opponents and rejoinders of its defenders. As a result, it is highlighted that culture is highly complex to be lonely explained by an explanatory model. Moreover, no model including Memetics could however, lonely claim for exclusive explanation of culture and the combination of a set of explanatory patterns would pave the way for a better understanding of it.