ABSTRACT
Memetics is only one of a number of schemes that have lately been put forward to explain our mental lives in terms of evolution. This symbolic language has immense appeal just now, indeed, it may well be a necessary counterpoise to the obsession with atomism. If the detailed patterns supplied by atomisers are to make sense and be used, some wider perspective is needed within which they can be deployed. That perspective is now supplied by the notion of cultural evolution. It is worth while to ask, just what does this idea do for us?
