Culture is not ecology

Abstract

In “The Ecological Approach to Culture”, Baumard and André (2025) argue that culture is not fundamentally different from ecology, and that “adaptationist thinking and inclusive fitness theory [are] just as central to understanding cultural phenomena as [they are] to explaining any animal behavior—and, more broadly, any biological process” (p. 15). These statements are empirically and theoretically incorrect. Here, we outline why culture is different from ecology, why adaptationist thinking is misguided, and why inclusive fitness theory is of very limited applicability.