the 'substrate' to denote the relation of the body-as-object to the body as it is experienced, and therefore to denote the transition from the physical brain to cognitive awareness. AN EVOLUTIONARY EPISTEMOLOGYCharles Darwin (18091882) was the first scientist to provide empirical evidence for the hypothesis of evolution, exposing the mechanism behind it. The closest biological relations of human beings are primates, of which the chimpanzee is closer to a human being to as great an extent as a 95% correspondence (Ridley 2003:209) than even the gorilla, though less than the orang-utan (Ayala 1998:33). The hominid line, which separated from that of the other primates somewhere between 5 to 7 million years ago, developed linearly on the African continent from homo habilis to homo erectus to homo sapiens. The last-mentioned species originated about400 000 years ago, whereas homo neanderthalensis survived up to 40 000 years ago. Neanderthals continued to survive for a time after 'modern man' arrived about 100 000 years ago.Darwinism is a theory that considers the three elements of variation, selection and reproduction (Buskes 2008:42). In terms of such elements, voluntary variation is, firstly, the source, or fuel, of evolution. The specific fitness of a species increases its chances of survival. Such survival occurs randomly, and is characterised by an abundance of different elements. Secondly, natural selection is the engine of evolution, which uses certain organisms, and not others. Certain elements are, consequently, more stable than others. Reproduction, thirdly, is the vehicle of evolution, which cumulatively conveys the evolutionary process from one generation to the next. The three elements, in all of which an evolutionary algorithm is present, are, therefore, capable of copying themselves. Consequently, if certain clearly defined steps are followed, a specific outcome can be achieved. In this way, biological adaptations may arise which, in turn, lead to new populations, which can survive in a particular environment. As the process is a cumulative one, with the output from one round becoming the input for the next, the degree of adaptability can also, consequently, be continuously increased (Buskes 2008:221).The theory of Universal Darwinism refers to a wider application of evolution than that which transpires within mere biological boundaries. Such a theory holds that a causal relation exists from the genotype to the phenotype, though not the converse. Dawkins (1995:4) explains in his book, titled River out of Eden, that '[t]he river of my title is a river of DNA, and it flows through time, not space. It is a river of information, not a river of bones and tissues: a river of abstract instructions for building bodies, not a river of solid bodies themselves. The information passes through bodies and affects them, but it is not affected by them on its way through.' Biological evolution, in such terms, leads to cultural evolution. Similarly to how biological evolution uses genes as building blocks, so does cultural evolution use memes as replicators. Such replicators can convey their coded information accurately by means of copying technique and symbolism (Dawkins 2006a:191). Whereas, in the case of genes, information is primarily conveyed vertically by means