Abstract
Given the importance of culture in human life, one of the most important questions about an evolutionary account of human nature is how well it can explain culture. Kappeler, Silk, Burkart, and van Schaik (2010) responded to this challenge by describing culture, with its material elements, social institutions, and linguistic bases, as perhaps humanity’s preeminent adaptation. Tomasello et al. (2005) concurred, seeing humans as “the world’s expert at culture” because we not only interact with conspecifics “but engage them in complex collaborative activities” (p. 675). Evolutionary scientists argue against the longstanding idea that biology and culture are mutually exclusive explanations for behavior because the human capacity for culture is dependent on our evolved cognitive architecture. From this point of view, cultural variation is not a refutation of a universal human nature. Rather, it is an expression of important, species-defining aspects of that nature. Although evolutionary scientists argue for a single human cognitive architecture for culture, this capacity is expressed in an incredible variety of cultural forms because cognitive architecture enables culture but does not dictate its content. I begin by discussing the adaptations that made culture possible to set the stage for an argument about how culture reveals goods that are essential for human flourishing.