Archaeology and scientific explanation

naturalism, interpretivism and "a third way"

Amparo Gómez

pp. 239-251

in: Hanne Andersen, Dennis Dieks, Thomas Uebel, Wenceslao J. Gonzalez, Gregory Wheeler (eds), New challenges to philosophy of science, Berlin, Springer, 2013

Abstract

The explanation-understanding controversy has been a main topic of archaeological methodology since the mid 19^th century. The arguments for explanation were dominant throughout much of the 20^th century within the empiricist and post-empiricist approaches. However, towards the end, understanding approaches were widely adopted by archaeologists, due to the prevalence gained by the interpretive turn in both hermeneutics and post-modern radical version. The aim of this paper is to review the less radical positions within the interpretive turn, that is, the hermeneutical thesis about understanding, and to examine the possibility of convergence between them and post-empiricist approaches on explanation.