Marion Blute

Marion Blute is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Toronto. Her research interest is in theory, in particular evolutionary epistemology, generalized Darwinism or multi-process selection theory. The basic principle is that all knowledge acquiring and utilizing processes are selection processes. These include (gene-based) evolution by natural selection, (neural-based) individual learning by reinforcement and punishment, and (social-learning based) sociocultural evolution by sociocultural selection. She is also interested in how these processes interact including gene-culture and culture-gene coevolution and has particular interests in the philosophy and sociology of science/scholarship and genders. She is a member of the editorial board of several journals and past member of the executive of several societies. Her monograph on Darwinian Sociocultural Evolution: Solutions to Dilemmas in Cultural and Social Theory was published by Cambridge University Press in 2010.