A typology of evolutionary theories, derived from Steward's (1955) uni
lincar, universal, and multilinear evolution, and from Sahlins' (1960) spe
cific and general evolution, is developed in this article. Two attributes, the
unit of analysis and the number of sequences, are found to be common to
all five theories. The attributes are used to construct the typology. It is
shown that unilinear and general evolution are the same theory, while
universal, multilinear, and specific evolution are distinct theories.
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