Commentary on nature-culture parallelisms.

Abstract

The paper begins with a discussion of the concepts of homology and analogy and their relationship to each other and to the phenomenon of parallel outcomes in anzmal and human behavior. I then present a collection of arguments and pieces of evidence concerning the scientific value of a continuing investigation into para llelisms. Examples are given from technology, sexuality, social relationshtps, kin ship, and ethnocentnsm, and from an extensive case study of responses to strong population pressure in East Africa. A brief concluding section treats the question of whether humankind's unusual cognitive capacities are likely to create circumstances in which parallehsms are eradicated.