--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Human culture, in evolutionary terms…" description: "\"Human culture, in evolutionary terms, moves from episodic, to mimetic, to mythic, to theoretic - that made all kinds of sense. To some extent, ontogeny..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/robert-neelly-bellah-25104_all-kinds_human-culture-in-evolutionary-terms-move_1790809.png" --- # Human culture, in evolutionary terms, moves from episodic… ![“Human culture, in evolutionary terms, moves from episodic, to mimetic, to mythic, to theoretic - that made all kinds of sense. To some extent, ontogeny repeats phylogeny, because children go through something like the same thing.” quote by Robert Neelly Bellah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/robert-neelly-bellah-25104_all-kinds_human-culture-in-evolutionary-terms-move_1790809.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/robert-neelly-bellah-25104_all-kinds_human-culture-in-evolutionary-terms-move_1790809.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b2f/robert-neelly-bellah-25104_all-kinds_human-culture-in-evolutionary-terms-move_1790809.png) > “Human culture, in evolutionary terms, moves from episodic, to mimetic, to mythic, to theoretic - that made all kinds of sense. To some extent, ontogeny repeats phylogeny, because children go through something like the same thing.” [Robert Neelly Bellah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-neelly-bellah/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human cultural development progresses through stages from personal experience to imitation, then shared stories, and finally abstract theory, mirroring biological evolution. **In simple terms:** Culture evolves from personal to collective to abstract stages. Key Takeaway Recognize and support each cultural stage. Themes culture evolution learning theory Mood analytical reflective Type anthropological theoretical When to use this quote - education - media production - storytelling - research design Key Concepts stage theory memetics developmental psychology Questions to Reflect On - How do modern cultures fit these stages? - Can stages overlap? A Different Perspective Not all societies follow this linear path. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) ## Related quotes > [The state is the nursing mother of human culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-alexander-leighton/the-state-is-the-nursing-mother-of-human-culture/) [Joseph Alexander Leighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-alexander-leighton/) > [Human life is inherently creative. It's why we all have different résumés. … It's why human culture is so interesting and diverse and dynamic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/human-life-is-inherently-creative-it-s-why-we-all-have-different-r/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“no human culture is inaccessible to someone who makes the effort to understand, to learn, to inhabit another world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/no-human-culture-is-inaccessible-to-someone-who-makes-the-effort-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“To some degree, the entirety of human culture and civilization has been built upon survival and death avoidance. From the creation of society and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-seeley/to-some-degree-the-entirety-of-human-culture-and-civilization-has/) Tim Seeley > [Screw every known human culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-egan/screw-every-known-human-culture/) [Greg Egan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-egan/) > [Landscapes are culture before they are nature; constructs of the imagination projected onto wood and water and rock. It is... difficult to think of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/landscapes-are-culture-before-they-are-nature-constructs-of-the/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [“We contrast the urban and the natural, but that’s a contemporary myth. We’re animals, after all; our cities are organic products, fully as “natural”…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-charles-wilson/we-contrast-the-urban-and-the-natural-but-that-s-a-contemporary-myth/) [Robert Charles Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-charles-wilson/) > [“To understand the rise of Christianity or the French Revolution, it is not enough to comprehend the interaction of genes, hormones and organisms. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/to-understand-the-rise-of-christianity-or-the-french-revolution-it-is/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) > [Man's biological weakness is the condition of human culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/man-s-biological-weakness-is-the-condition-of-human-culture/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [Spaceflight isn't just about doing experiments, it's about an extension of human culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hadfield/spaceflight-isn-t-just-about-doing-experiments-it-s-about-an/) [Chris Hadfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hadfield/) > [We believe we're seeing, in other animals, a process, or an attribute, that isn't fundamentally different from what we see in humans, so it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-whitehead/we-believe-we-re-seeing-in-other-animals-a-process-or-an-attribute/) [Hal Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-whitehead/) > [But one thing that seems pretty clear when we look at human religion is that it's highly tied in with human culture. 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Music is the flowering of character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/character-is-the-backbone-of-our-human-culture-music-is-the-flowering/) [Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/) ## More by Robert Neelly Bellah > [We have to treat others as part of who we are, rather than as a 'them' with whom we are in constant competition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-neelly-bellah/we-have-to-treat-others-as-part-of-who-we-are-rather-than-as-a-them/) [Robert Neelly Bellah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-neelly-bellah/) > [Leaving home in a sense involves a kind of second birth in which we give birth to ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-neelly-bellah/leaving-home-in-a-sense-involves-a-kind-of-second-birth-in-which-we/) [Robert Neelly Bellah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-neelly-bellah/) > [We have to understand ourselves as a part of the narrative of evolution. And evolution never stops. 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So yeah,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emeril-lagasse/my-office-in-new-york-is-overflowing-with-all-kinds-of-cookbooks-and/) [Emeril Lagasse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emeril-lagasse/) > [Sydney is full of the craziest and most talented artists of all kinds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keiynan-lonsdale/sydney-is-full-of-the-craziest-and-most-talented-artists-of-all-kinds/) [Keiynan Lonsdale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keiynan-lonsdale/) > [Baseball needs to put the steroids era behind it by having and enforcing tough rules against all kinds of artificial advantages, so that spring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-olasky/baseball-needs-to-put-the-steroids-era-behind-it-by-having-and/) [Marvin Olasky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-olasky/) > [You know, the world’s not running out of oil. 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The best writers write children's books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-scarry/there-are-all-kinds-of-writers-the-best-writers-write-children-s-books/) [Richard Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-scarry/) > [We also need to make sure women can be in charge of their reproductive health. We can't defund places like Planned Parenthood, where women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chrissy-teigen/we-also-need-to-make-sure-women-can-be-in-charge-of-their/) [Chrissy Teigen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chrissy-teigen/) > [The single greatest pleasure that I have in doing ('Bizarre Foods') is when I meet families with 6, 7, 8-year-olds, or teenagers, who say,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-zimmern/the-single-greatest-pleasure-that-i-have-in-doing-bizarre-foods-is/) [Andrew Zimmern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-zimmern/) > [I can see that I imagine all kinds of rejection that never happens. 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