Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-02T18:46:06.030Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paradigms and the Nature of Change in American Archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David J. Meltzer
David J. Meltzer*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Aspects of Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions are discussed and criticized. Problems are pointed out in three general areas: the latitude Kuhn allows in the concept paradigm, his views on the nature of scientific change, and his notion of incommensurability and the accompanying problems of relativism. The utilization of Kuhn's model by archaeologists is then critiqued, with a focus on the varying interpretations of the paradigmatic state of the discipline. Finally, consideration is given to the recent changes in archaeology that have led to the claim that there has been a scientific revolution in the field. It is argued that those ostensibly fundamental changes are neither revolutionary nor particulary beneficial to a scientific archaeology.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , October 1979 , pp. 644 - 657
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Aberle, David F. 1970 Comments. In Reconstructing prehistoric Pueblo societies, edited by Longacre, W. A., pp. 214–223. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Adams, Robert McC. 1968 Archaeological research strategies: past and present. Science 160:1187–1192.Google Scholar
Athens, J. Stephen 1977 Theory building and the study of evolutionary process in complex societies. In For theory building inarchaeology, edited by Binford, L. R., pp. 353–384. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Belmont, John S., and Williams, Stephen 1965 The foundations of American archaeology. Ms. on file, Peabody Museum, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1965 Archaeological systematics and the study of cultural process. American Antiquity 31:203–210.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1968a Archaeological perspectives. In New perspectives in archaeology, edited by Binford, S. R. and Binford, L. R., pp. 5–32. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1968b Post-Pleistocene adaptations. In New perspectives in archaeology, edited by Binford, S. R. and Binford, L. R., pp. 313–341. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1977 General introduction. In For theory building in archaeology, edited by Binford, L. R., pp. 1–10. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Clarke, David L. 1968 Analytical archaeology. Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Colodny, Robert G. 1966 Introduction. In Mind and cosmos, edited by Colodny, R., pp. xi-xvii. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Deetz, James 1967 Invitation to archaeology. Natural History Press, Garden City, New York.Google Scholar
Duhem, Pierre 1954 The aim and structure of physical theory. Princeton University Press, Princeton (originally published)Google Scholar
Dunnell, Robert C. 1973 The normative straw man: an oblique defense. Paper presented at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Dunnell, Robert C. 1978a Style and function: a fundamental dichotomy. American Antiquity 43:192–202.Google Scholar
Dunnell, Robert C. 1978b Natural selection, scale and cultural evolution: some preliminary considerations. Paper presentedat the Current Issues in Primate and Human Evolution Colloquium, University of Washington, Seattle.Google Scholar
Feyerabend, Paul K. 1970 Consolations for the specialist. In Criticism and the growth of knowledge, edited by Lakatos, I. and Musgrave, A., pp. 197–230. Cambridge University Press, London.Google Scholar
Fitting, James E. 1973 History and crisis in archaeology. In The development of North American archaeology, edited by Fitting, J., pp. 1–13. Doubleday, New York.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent V. 1972 The cultural evolution of civilizations. Annual fleview of Ecology and Systematics 3:399–426.Google Scholar
Fritz, John M., and Plog, Fred T. 1970 The nature of archaeological explanation. American Antiquity 35:405–412.Google Scholar
Harris, Marvin 1968 Comments. In New perspectives in archaeology, edited by Binford, S. R. and Binford, L. R., pp. 359–361. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Hempel, Carl G. 1965 Aspects of scientific explanation, and other essays in the philosophy of science. The Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hill, James N. 1970 Broken K Pueblo: prehistoric social organization in the American Southwest. Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona 18.Google Scholar
Hill, James N. 1972 The methodological debate in contemporary archaeology: a model. In Models in archaeology, edited by Clarke, D. L., pp. 61–107. Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Hooykaas, Reijer 1963 Natural law and divine miracle; the principle of uniformity in geology, biology and theology. E. J. Brill, Leiden.Google Scholar
Hooykaas, Reijer 1970 Catastrophism in geology; its scientific character in relation to actualism and uni/ormitarianism. North-Holland, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Jarvie, I. C. 1975 Epistle to the anthropologists. American Anthropologist 77:253–266.Google Scholar
Krieger, Alex D. 1944 The typological concept. American Antiquity 9:271–288.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Thomas S. 1970a The Structure of scientific revolutions. [Second ed.] University of Chicago Press, Chicago (originally published in 1962).Google Scholar
Kuhn, Thomas S. 1970b Logic of discovery or psychology of research? In Criticism and the growth of knowledge, edited by I Musgrave, Lakatos and A., pp. 1–23. Cambridge University Press, London.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Thomas S. 1970c Reflections on my critics. In Criticism and the growth of knowledge, edited by Lakatos, I. and Musgrave, A., pp. 231–278. Cambridge University Press, London.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Thomas S. 1974 Second thoughts on paradigms. In The structure of scientific theories, edited by Suppe, F., pp. 459–482. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
Lakatos, Imre, and Musgrave, Alan (editors) 1970 Criticism and the growth of knowledge. Cambridge University Press, London.Google Scholar
Leach, Edmund R. 1973 Concluding address. In The explanation of culture change; models in prehistory, edited by Renfrew, C., pp. 761–771. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Leone, Mark P. 1968 Neolithic economic autonomy and social distance. Science 162:1150–1151.Google Scholar
Leone, Mark P. 1972 Issues in anthropological archaeology. In Contemporary archaeology; a guide to theory and contributions, edited by Leone, M. P., pp. 14–27. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Leone, Mark P. 1975 Views of traditional archaeology, fleviews in Anthropology 2:191–199.Google Scholar
Levin, Michael E. 1973 On explanation in archaeology: a rebuttal to Fritz and Plog. American Antiquity 38:387–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longacre, William A. 1970 Archaeology as anthropology: a case study. Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona 17.Google Scholar
Martin, Paul S. 1971 The revolution in archaeology. American Antiquity 36:1–8.Google Scholar
Masterman, Margaret 1970 The nature of a paradigm. In Criticism and the growth of knowledge, edited by Lakatos, I. and Musgrave, A., pp. 59–90. Cambridge University Press, London.Google Scholar
Morgan, Charles G. 1973 Archaeology and explanation. World Archaeology 4:259–276.Google Scholar
Morgan, Charles G. 1974 Explanation and scientific archaeology. World Archaeology 6:125–137.Google Scholar
Popper, Karl R. 1957 The poverty of historicism. Basic Books, New York.Google Scholar
Popper, Karl R. 1963 Conjectures and re/utations: the growth of scienti/ic knowledge. Harper & Row, New York.Google Scholar
Popper, Karl R. 1970 Normal science and its dangers. In Criticism and the growth of scientific knowledge, edited by Lakatos, I. and Musgrave, A., pp. 51–58. Cambridge University Press, London.Google Scholar
Popper, Karl R. 1972 Objective knowledge: an evolutionary approach. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Rouse, Irving B. 1953 The strategy of culture history. In Anthropology today, edited by Kroeber, A., pp. 57–76. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Rudwick, Martin J. 1972 The meaning of fossils: episodes in the history of paleontology. Mac Donald and Co., London.Google Scholar
Sabloff, Jeremy A., Beale, Thomas W., and Kurland, Anthony M. Jr. 1973 Recent developments in archaeology. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 408:103–118.Google Scholar
Salmon, Merrilee H. 1976 “Deductive” versus “inductive” archaeology. American Antiquity 41:376–381.Google Scholar
Schuyler, Robert L. 1971 The history of American archaeology: an examination of procedure. American Antiquity 36:383–409.Google Scholar
Schuyler, Robert L. 1973 Review of “Explanation in archaeology: an explicitly scientific approach.” American Antiquity 38:372–374.Google Scholar
Shapere, Dudley 1964 The structure of scientific revolutions. The Philosophical Review 73:383–394.Google Scholar
Shapere, Dudley 1966 Meaning and scientific change. In Mind and cosmos, edited by Colodny, R., pp. 41–85. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Shapere, Dudley 1971 The paradigm concept. Science 172:706–709.Google Scholar
Shapere, Dudley 1974 Galileo: a philosophical study. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Smith, Bruce D. 1977 Archaeological inference and inductive confirmation. American Anthropologist 79:598–617.Google Scholar
Sterud, Eugene L. 1973 A paradigmatic view of prehistory. In The explanation of culture change: models in prehistory, edited by Renfrew, C., pp. 3–17. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Sterud, Eugene L. 1978 Changing aims of Americanist archaeology: a citations analysis of American Antiquity—1946-1975. American Antiquity 43:294–302.Google Scholar
Strong, William D. 1952 The value of archaeology in the training of professional anthropologists. American Antiquity 54:318–321.Google Scholar
Suppe, Frederick 1974 Exemplars, theories and disciplinary matrixes. In The structure of scientific theories, edited by Suppe, F., pp. 483–499. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
Suppe, Frederick 1975 Kuhn's and Feyerabend's relativisms. Paper presented at the Committee on History and Philosophyof Science Colloquia Series, University of Maryland, College Park.Google Scholar
Suppe, Frederick 1977 Afterword—1977. In The structure of scientific theories, [Second ed.] edited by Suppe, F., pp. 617. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
Suppe, Frederick (editor) 1977 The structure of scientific theories. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
Thompson, Raymond H. 1972 Interpretive trends and linear models in American archaeology. In Contemporary archaeology: aguide to theory and contributions, edited by Leone, M. P., pp. 34–38. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Toulmin, Stephen E. 1970 Does the distinction between normal science and revolutionary science hold water? In Criticism and the growth of knowledge, edited by Lakatos, I. and Musgrave, A., pp. 39–47. Cambridge University Press, London.Google Scholar
Watkins, John W. N. 1970 Against normal science. In Criticism and the growth of knowledge, edited by Lakatos, I. and Musgrave, A., pp. 25–37. Cambridge University Press, London.Google Scholar
Watson, Patty Jo, Le Blanc, Steven A., and Redman, Charles L. 1971 Explanation in archaeology: an explicitly scientific approach. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R. 1968 One hundred years of American archaeology. In One hundred years of anthropology, edited by Brew, J. O., pp. 29–53. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R., and Phillips, Philip 1958 Method and theory in American archaeology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R., and Sabloff, Jeremy A. 1974 A history of American archaeology. W. H. Freeman, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Wilmsen, Edwin N. 1965 An outline of Early Man studies in the United States. American Antiquity 31:172–192.Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig 1974 Tractatus logico-philosophicus. Humanities Press, New Jersey (originally published 1921).Google Scholar
Zubrow, Ezra B. W. 1972 Environment, subsistence and society: the changing archaeological perspective. Annual Review of Anthropology 1:179-206.Google Scholar