Can There Be A Philosophy of Archaeology?: Processual Archaeology and the Philosophy of ScienceCan There Be a Philosophy of Archaeology? provides a historical and philosophical analysis of the rise and fall of the philosophical movement know as logical positivism, focusing on the effect of that movement on the budding science of archaeology. Significant problems resulted from the grafting of logical positivism onto what became known as processual, or new archaeology, and as a result of this failure, archaeologists distanced themselves from philosophers of science, believing that archaeology would be best served by a return to the dirt. By means of a thorough analysis of the real reasons for failures of logical empiricism and the new archaeology, as well as a series of archaeological case studies, Krieger shows the need for the resumption of dialogue and collaboration between the two groups. In an age where philosophers of science are just beginning to look beyond the standard examples of scientific practice, this book demonstrates that archaeological science can hold its own with other sciences and will be of interest to archaeologists and philosophers of science alike. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 5 | |
The New Archaeology | 31 |
The New Archaeologys New Archaeologists | 47 |
Philosophy and Archaeology PostPositivism | 69 |
Philosophical Problems Archaeological | 99 |
Future Studies Archaeological Explanation and the Philosophy of Science | 121 |
| 133 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
analysis antirealist approach archae archaeological evidence archaeological explanation archaeological science archaeologists artifacts Binford causal ceramic ceteris paribus chaeological changes chapter claims contemporary context covering law explanations covering law models critiques D-N model dating discipline emphasis ence equifinality ethnographic ethnographic data example excavation existence explanation sketches explanatory fact factors field focus focused Fraassen function given goal Hempel and Oppenheim Hempel’s models Hempelian explanation Hill Hill’s historians hypotheses Ibid issues Kosso Kuhn Landscape Archaeology Lewis Binford logical positivism logical positivists methodological methods Mithen models of explanation Munson objects ologists ology particular past phase Philistine philosophers of science philosophical explanation philosophy of archaeology physics planation position pottery prediction problems processual archaeology Pueblo question realist reason reduction region relevant result S-R model Salmon scientific explanation scientists smudge pits specific Syro-Palestinian testing texts theoretical entities theory tion understand unification unified Vienna Circle Wesley Salmon