Concept
Philosophy of archaeology
Overview
The philosophy of archaeology seeks to investigate the foundations, methods and implications of the discipline of archaeology in order to further understand the human past and present.
Core questions address the definition of archaeology, its theoretical foundations, and the ways in which the discipline conceptualizes time. They also examine the purposes of archaeology, including why it is conducted and for whose benefit, as well as the nature and reality of the materials and processes that constitute archaeological inquiry. Analytic philosophy of archaeology explores the conceptual structure underlying terms such as artefact, site, archaeological record, and archaeological culture. These issues represent part of the broader metaphysical, aesthetic, epistemological, ethical, and theoretical concerns central to archaeological practice.
In addition to these general questions, the philosophy of archaeology is also concerned with fieldwork methodology, integration of theory and collaboration with other disciplines, theories of measurement and data representation.
Philosophy of archaeology can also denote a certain approach or attitude applied to the discipline, such as feminist, Marxist, humanist or processual for example. These approaches are generally referred to as "theory" by archaeologists and are sometimes conflated with, but are not the same as, analytic philosophy of archaeology. See Archeological theory for a full description of these approaches.
There is currently little consensus amongst archaeologists on the nature of the problems in the philosophy of archaeology, or indeed in some cases, whether a philosophy of archaeology should, or even can, exist. As such, the discipline is not highly developed, with even its existence or relevance disputed by some archaeologists. However, it is generally recognised that an awareness of the philosophical issues and framework of the subject through research into the philosophy of archaeology is important for progress in the discipline as well as for designing research, controlling inference and interpretation, and in classification.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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But all philosophy is either cognition on the basis of pure reason, or the cognition of reason on the basis of empirical principles. The former is termed pure, the latter empirical philosophy. The philosophy of pure reason is either propædeutic, that is, an inquiry into the powers of reason in regard to pure à priori cognition, and is termed critical philosophy; or it is, secondly, the system of pure reason—a…
Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason
States what Philosophy of archaeology is.
The whole study of the heavens, which now belongs to astronomy, was once included in philosophy; Newton's great work was called 'the mathematical principles of natural philosophy'. Similarly, the study of the human mind, which was a part of philosophy, has now been separated from philosophy and has become the science of psychology. Thus, to a great extent, the uncertainty of philosophy is more apparent than real…
Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy
States what Philosophy of archaeology is.
Then it is said that a people begins to philosophize, for this content has thought in common with Philosophy. At such a time we find deliverances about all the common events of Nature, as we also find intellectual maxims, moral sentences, general principles respecting morality, the will, duty, and the like, and those who expressed them have been called wise men or philosophers. Thus in the beginnings of Greek…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
States what Philosophy of archaeology is.
Philosophers who discussed Philosophy of archaeology
Related ideas
- Empiricism
- Principle of sufficient reason
- Hesiod
- Archaeology
- Measurement
- Babylon
- Natural selection
- Nazi Germany
- Ontology
- Philosophical methodology
- Parmenides
- Postmodernism
- Myth
- Classical antiquity
- Thales of Miletus
- Pre-Socratic philosophy
- Theory
- Time (magazine)
- Uniformitarianism
- Philosophy of science
- Lucretius
- Relativism
- Miletus
- Chaos (cosmogony)
Place in the tradition
Part of Outline of philosophy.
Narrower topics:
- Archaeology
- Ahnenerbe
- Elgin Marbles
- Taxonomy
- Typology (archaeology)
- Alison Wylie
- Archaeological theory
- Data and information visualization
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