Overview

Can 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.

Full Product Details

Author:   William Harvey Krieger
Publisher:   Lexington Books
Imprint:   Lexington Books
Edition:   annotated edition
Dimensions:   Width: 16.40cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 23.80cm
Weight:   0.345kg
ISBN:  

9780739112496

ISBN 10:   073911249
Pages:   160
Publication Date:   24 August 2006
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   Awaiting stock  

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction Part 2 Logical Postivism and Scientific Explanation Chapter 3 In the Beginning: Explanation and the Vienna Circle Chapter 4 The Nature of Hempelian Explanation Chapter 5 Explanation and the Social Sciences Part 6 The New Archaeology Chapter 7 The Origins of New Archaeology Chapter 8 Archaeology: The Need for Change Chapter 9 The Aims, Features, and Methods of New Archaeology Part 10 The New Archaeology's New Archaeologists Chapter 11 Introducing the New Archaeologists Chapter 12 The New Archaeology in Practice: Problems and Issues Chapter 13 Philosophical Accounts of Archaeological Explanation Part 14 Philosophy and Archaeology: Post-Positivism Chapter 15 What the New Archaeology Could and Could Not Do Chapter 16 Laws and Philosophy of Science Chapter 17 Disunified Science and the Future of Archaeology Part 18 Philosophical Problems: Archaeological Responses Chapter 19 What Can Archaeology Do for Philosophers of Science? Chapter 20 Realism, Antirealism, and Archaeological Entities Chapter 21 Science, Values, and Archaeology Chapter 22 A Call for Re-evaluation Part 23 Future Studies: Archaeological Explanation and the Philosophy of Science Chapter 24 Where Do We Go From Here? Chapter 25 Theory, Geography, and the (Dis)unity of Science Chapter 26 Moving Forward

Reviews

Krieger provides a highly accessible account of the active, sometimes fractious interchange between archaeology and philosophy, detailing the fortunes of positivist ideals, the New Archaeology that embraced them, and the post-positivist models of research practice that have taken shape in archaeology and in philosophy of science in the last 30 years.... Archaeologists and philosophers both stand to benefit from the intellectual partnership that Krieger details, particularly when the scope of the archaeological discussion is expanded to include the rich and diverse research traditions he considers.--Alison Wylie

Author Information

William H. Krieger serves as a field director for Tell el Far'ah South excavation in Southern Israel, and is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Rhode Island.

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