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Laws, Systems, and Research Designs: A Discussion of Explanation in Archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

H. David Tuggle ,
Alex H. Townsend  and
Thomas J. Riley
H. David Tuggle
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii
Alex H. Townsend
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii
Thomas J. Riley
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii
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Abstract

Archaeology must come to grips with the basic philosophical problems of science. With this premise in mind, we welcome the recent article on explanation by Fritz and Plog (1970) and offer a review and critique of it with the following points: (1) The D-N model of explanation is not the exclusive explanatory system in science and is in fact subject to extensive discussion and criticism in several areas of science; (2) archaeologists have not employed laws commonly in the past but rather deductive reasoning based on assumed premises; (3) the use of laws in explanation may reduce archaeology to a science of historical exemplification; (4) the research design presented by Fritz and Plog may be modified to include concern for hypothesis formulation, variable identification in the archaeological context, and the interplay of hypotheses and data throughout excavation and analysis; (5) the Meehan system paradigm explanatory model is presented as an alternative to the D-N model; (6) what archaeologists try to explain is relevant to the nature of the explanation.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , January 1972 , pp. 3 - 12
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1972

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