In this research I explore the hypothesis that it can be beneficial to the fitness of cultural variants if they channel the energy of the individual who adopts the variant away from biological reproduction and toward the reproduction of the cultural variant. I label this the “inverse correlation hypothesis of cultural maladaptation.” This hypothesis is based on the observation that human biological reproduction is expensive in terms of energy and time. Therefore, cultural traits that minimize reproduction consequently make available resources that an individual could utilize instead to propagate the cultural trait in question. This hypothesis is usually advanced as a plausible explanation of extreme cultural traditions that reduce sexual reproduction to zero, such as celibacy. My first task is to discuss the implications of this hypothesis and to argue that, although it has merits, it has only been given a superficial scientific treatment in the literature, which is unfortunate. The reason for this, I argue, might be due to a vague theoretical distinction between, on the one hand, cultural maladaptive traits that nullify biological fitness and, on the other, selectively neutral or non-adaptive cultural traits that do not affect fitness values. My second task is to articulate an adequate theoretical framework that makes the inverse correlation hypothesis a scientifically respectable explanation of cultural maladaptation. I discuss some theoretical and empirical challenges that this hypothesis faces, but that they are not fatal as they are well-trodden by evolutionary biologists and philosophers.

Alejandro Gordillo García

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