Ways of Knowing the Past: The Nature of Science and Humanistic Values

1. Ways of Knowing the Past:The Nature of Science and Humanistic Values ANTH E316, Prehistory of North America Larry Zimmerman Indiana U-Purdue U Indianapolis

2. How are we connected to the past? • History—written documentation of events provides detail • Seems straightforward, but is it? • What is an historical “fact?” • Revisionist history. How does it happen? "History is written by the victor." Unknown "I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge -That myth is more potent than history,I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts.” Robert Fulghum

3. How are we connected to the past? • Received Wisdom—what our ancestors tell us about the past • Seems “true,” but is it? Myth and its meanings • What are its sources? Experience, intuitive learning, imitation • Historical Memory—what our culture tells us about the past • Seems “true, “ but just how true? • What are its sources? Shared, common beliefs and experiences • ‘Contested’ memory

4. How are we connected to the past? • Oral tradition — powerful stories with moral consequences • Master narrative — authoritative, dominant, and powerful stories of How the World Works that is supported and validated by society as a wholethat guide societies over time • Counter narratives challenge them • Usually told by subordinate groups Reverend Weems Recounting Washington/Cherry Tree, Grant Wood, 1930. American Progress, John Gast, 1872 Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way (Westward Ho), Emanuel Leutze, 1861

5. How are we connected to the past? • Objects — their contexts and relationships • Material remnants of peoples’ lives • Sentimentality vs. reality • Powerful demonstrations of the realities of past activities • Parts may be missing • Symbolic content of the material • The power of context • The realm of archaeology

6. But how do we know what we know? Epistemology the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions and foundations, and its extent and validity the way that knowledge claims are justified

7. How do people deal with the unknown? The big problem? We realize that our knowledge is limited. We also realize our own mortality, which keeps us from becoming omniscient.

8. We face the ultimate brute question:

9. How you answer the question depends on your needs. • Something is explained when it is the result of a sentient (thinking) being • Example? God’s will • Something is explained when it is the result of a general law • Example? “What goes up, must come down” results from the law of gravity • Something is explained when it is an example of a commonly understood principle • Example? Why is this water going downhill? Because water always flows downhill. • The co-occurrence of two or more events is explained when can find the factors that connect the events. • Example? The tree and house came down at the same time because a storm came along with very high wind and hit both of them.

10. We are forced to ‘hypothecate’ relationships between the known and the unknown… …but using only the terms and concepts of the known. An Unknown Mancast glass with pate de verre inclusions Linda Either info@lindaethier.com

11. When you ask a question, how do you know the answer is correct? • When it satisfies you • The approach of magic or the idiosyncratic • When someone tells you it is • The approach of religion • When it meets pre-established criteria for ‘correctness’ • The approach of science

12. Three steps for dealing with the unknown • Explanation― • developing relationships between the known and the unknown. Stories, myths, tales, theories • Prediction― • if/then statements. Taboos, adages, hypotheses • Control― • gives confidence and power that if you do certain things, you will get a certain result. Rituals, experiments

13. How do we respond? • Magic― • A "black box" • Part-time specialists • difficult to control • Accepts explanations without question

14. Religion― • A formalized system with detailed beliefs, • full time specialists, • social arbiter, • explanations accepted without test

15. Science― • Systematized observations and tests of proposed explanations • Full-time specialists • Explanations accepted only with tests

16. Ways of Knowing • Perception • The senses • Language & the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Language helps structure our realities.

17. Ways of Knowing "Received" wisdom • Simple parental training • Oral tradition • Written word • Faith

18. Ways of Knowing Science Demands evidence, which makes it materialistic Hypotheses―testable statements of relationships Tests are meant to falsify the hypothesis (prove them wrong) A theory is a body of interrelated hypotheses that have been difficult to falsify.

19. Truth vs. Validity Truthis a matter of belief or faith. Validityis a matter of how well an argument meets the requirements of the system of logic within which it operates.

20. For scientists truth is an unattainable goal, and in fact, is dangerous. However, scientists constantly question validity.

21. Epistemology and North American Archaeology • From the start, there was the vexing question of who the Indians were and how they got here. • A wide range of questions demanded a wide range of answers. • The result was the use of several different epistemologies from theological models to hard core scientific method