Abstract
In this chapter, we examine several schools of thought that have considered the influence of the environment on certain aspects of human behavior. We show the main interpretations and critics to determinism, the arising of possibilism as an alternative discourse, the ideas of a cultural core and multilinear evolution applicable to cultural ecology, the adoption of a systems perspective (and the functioning of feedbacks), neo-Darwinian approaches and processual approaches in anthropology and human ecology. Additionally, considerations regarding the potential of the evolutionary approaches to understand the relationship between nature and society are offered.
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Notes
- 1.
As Mesoudi (2011) emphasized, human behavior is the performance of information that is genetic or acquired through individual or social learning. Thus, strictly speaking, behavior is not necessarily related to cultural information, that is, learned socially. However, to facilitate the presentation of positions, in this paper, the term “behavior” is only linked to information of cultural origin.
- 2.
In biological evolution, it is held that convergence occurs when natural selection favors the development of similar characteristics in certain organisms as solutions to problems created by similar environments (Freeman and Herron 2009).
- 3.
Stability exists when a system is found in (or near to) a state of equilibrium (Holling 1973). A strong variation can transform a system from one state of equilibrium to another. Accordingly, negative feedback refers to forces that operate for the self-correction and maintenance of a system’s equilibrium, whereas positive feedback refers to the forces that cause disequilibrium and change in the domains of stability (Keesing 1974).
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank all members of the Laboratory of Theoretical and Applied Ethnobiology (LEA) for the important discussions that influenced this chapter. This work was supported by funding from the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq—Proc. 471989/2012-6).
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de Medeiros, P.M., Ramos, M.A., Soldati, G.T., Albuquerque, U.P. (2015). Ecological-Evolutionary Approaches to the Human–Environment Relationship: History and Concepts. In: Albuquerque, U., De Medeiros, P., Casas, A. (eds) Evolutionary Ethnobiology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19917-7_2
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