- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Introductory Essays
- 1 A New Look at Causality
- 2 Determinism and Indeterminism in Modern Science
- 3 Comets, Pollen, and Dreams Some Reflections on Scientific Explanation
- 4 Scientific Explanation
- 5 The Importance of Scientific Understanding
- Part II Scientific Explanation
- 6 A Third Dogma of Empiricism
- 7 Causal and Theoretical Explanation
- 8 Why Ask, “Why?”?
- 9 Deductivism Visited and Revisited
- 10 Explanatory Asymmetry
- 11 Van Fraassen on Explanation
- Part III Causality
- 12 An “At‐At” Theory of Causal Influence
- 13 Causal Propensities
- 14 Probabilistic Causality
- 15 Intuitions—Good and Not‐So‐Good
- 16 Causality Without Counterfactuals
- 17 Indeterminacy, Indeterminism, and Quantum Mechanics
- Part IV Concise Overviews
- 18 Causality
- 19 Scientific Explanation
- 20 Scientific Explanation
- Part V Applications to Other Disciplines
- 21 Alternative Models of Scientific Explanation
- 22 Causality in Archaeological Explanation
- 23 Explanation in Archaeology
- 24 The Formulation of Why‐Questions
- 25 Quasars, Causality, and Geometry
- 26 Dreams of a Famous Physicist
- References
- Index
Explanation in Archaeology
Explanation in Archaeology
An Update
- Chapter:
- (p.356) 23 Explanation in Archaeology
- Source:
- Causality and Explanation
- Author(s):
Wesley C. Salmon
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Originally published 15 years after the initial publication of Ch. 21, deals with subsequent developments in the philosophical discussions of scientific explanation that have special relevance to archaeology. In particular, fruitful discussions among philosophers who embrace the unification approach to explanation and those who favor the causal approach, offer useful insights into how to handle functional explanations. Many archaeologists try to avoid functional explanations, although they seem to be crucial to archaeological theory, because of a fear that such explanations are not scientific. The author endorses archaeologists’ search for scientific explanations, and tries to show how they can better pursue that goal if they are not hampered by rigid adherence to older philosophical models of explanation.
Keywords: archaeology, causal explanation, functional explanation
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- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Introductory Essays
- 1 A New Look at Causality
- 2 Determinism and Indeterminism in Modern Science
- 3 Comets, Pollen, and Dreams Some Reflections on Scientific Explanation
- 4 Scientific Explanation
- 5 The Importance of Scientific Understanding
- Part II Scientific Explanation
- 6 A Third Dogma of Empiricism
- 7 Causal and Theoretical Explanation
- 8 Why Ask, “Why?”?
- 9 Deductivism Visited and Revisited
- 10 Explanatory Asymmetry
- 11 Van Fraassen on Explanation
- Part III Causality
- 12 An “At‐At” Theory of Causal Influence
- 13 Causal Propensities
- 14 Probabilistic Causality
- 15 Intuitions—Good and Not‐So‐Good
- 16 Causality Without Counterfactuals
- 17 Indeterminacy, Indeterminism, and Quantum Mechanics
- Part IV Concise Overviews
- 18 Causality
- 19 Scientific Explanation
- 20 Scientific Explanation
- Part V Applications to Other Disciplines
- 21 Alternative Models of Scientific Explanation
- 22 Causality in Archaeological Explanation
- 23 Explanation in Archaeology
- 24 The Formulation of Why‐Questions
- 25 Quasars, Causality, and Geometry
- 26 Dreams of a Famous Physicist
- References
- Index
