On Epistemology in Archaeology: Critique of the Text “Archaeological excavation from Epistemological Perspective” by Marko Porčić

The paper is the reaction to the contribution by Marko Porčić in this volume of Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology, presenting his views on the epistemological character and status of excavation in the archaeological process of knowledge acquisition. Here it is argued that the analysis of Porčić is simplified, non-consequential and founded upon the outdated concepts of epistemological analysis of science, which takes into account only the internal disciplinary epistemology and sharply divides theory from practice, thus considerably lowering the potential for research of archaeological epistemology. Discussing a research field, especially a humanistic one such as archaeology, exclusively in the light of its own categories and concepts and ways of thinking inevitably leads to massive reduction in understanding of knowledge production. If the ideal of so-called hard sciences, followed by Porčić, was a severe detachment of objects from subjects, supposedly leading to guaranteed neutrality (objectivity) of knowledge – the first half of the 20th century ideal, today abandoned in many respects even in hard sciences themselves – the constitutive element in humanistic disciplines is (auto)reflexivity and interactivity of researchers in respect to “other people and their work”, and therefore a completely different role of “subject” and their surroundings. Following his internalist approach, Porčić attempts to approach the epistemic structure of archaeology and its modes of knowledge building from the point of view of the so-called (by the author himself) general epistemological model, according to which a research starts by shaping a previous statement (hypothesis), followed by testing and final verification of a new knowledge. Attempting to preserve the “neutrality” of epistemological analysis, Porčić does not take into account the fact that every knowledge, including the scientific one, is historically and culturally conditioned; this fact, which is the foundation of every consideration of knowledge and ways of its production, particularly apparent in humanistic disciplines, is also present in the epistemology of hard sciences, to which Porčić refers. His perseverance to remain strictly in the domain of “theory” and complete neglect of the role of practice in the process of knowledge acquisition is expressed in a string of completely false statements, such as e.g. (theoretical) redundancy of archaeological excavations, or finitude (limitedness) of archaeological inquiry, reached upon by simple syllogistic exercises, often starting by erroneous or tautological premises. Perhaps the most eloquent illustration of the inadequacy of the so-called general epistemological model for archaeology is the neglect of preventive archaeology – today amounting to more than 90% of all archaeological fieldwork in Europe. However, Porčić practically denies all epistemological value to this work, persevering in the extremely reductive view of archaeology, and at the same time neglecting important epistemological perspectives of the discipline.

On Epistemology in Archaeology: Critique of the Text “Archaeological Excavation from Epistemological Perspective” by Marko Porčić

The paper is the reaction to the contribution by Marko Porčić in this volume of Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology, presenting his views on the epistemological character and status of excavation in the archaeological process of knowledge acquisition. Here it is argued that the analysis of Porčić is simplified, non-consequential and founded upon the outdated concepts of epistemological analysis of science, which takes into account only the internal disciplinary epistemology and sharply divides theory from practice, thus considerably lowering the potential for research of archaeological epistemology. Discussing a research field, especially a humanistic one such as archaeology, exclusively in the light of its own categories and concepts and ways of thinking inevitably leads to massive reduction in understanding of knowledge production. If the ideal of so-called hard sciences, followed by Porčić, was a severe detachment of objects from subjects, supposedly leading to guaranteed neutrality (objectivity) of knowledge – the first half of the 20th century ideal, today abandoned in many respects even in hard sciences themselves – the constitutive element in humanistic disciplines is (auto)reflexivity and interactivity of researchers in respect to “other people and their work”, and therefore a completely different role of “subject” and their surroundings. Following his internalist approach, Porčić attempts to approach the epistemic structure of archaeology and its modes of knowledge building from the point of view of the so-called (by the author himself) general epistemological model, according to which a research starts by shaping a previous statement (hypothesis), followed by testing and final verification of a new knowledge. Attempting to preserve the “neutrality” of epistemological analysis, Porčić does not take into account the fact that every knowledge, including the scientific one, is historically and culturally conditioned; this fact, which is the foundation of every consideration of knowledge and ways of its production, particularly apparent in humanistic disciplines, is also present in the epistemology of hard sciences, to which Porčić refers. His perseverance to remain strictly in the domain of “theory” and complete neglect of the role of practice in the process of knowledge acquisition is expressed in a string of completely false statements, such as e.g. (theoretical) redundancy of archaeological excavations, or finitude (limitedness) of archaeological inquiry, reached upon by simple syllogistic exercises, often starting by erroneous or tautological premises. Perhaps the most eloquent illustration of the inadequacy of the so-called general epistemological model for archaeology is the neglect of preventive archaeology – today amounting to more than 90% of all archaeological fieldwork in Europe. However, Porčić practically denies all epistemological value to this work, persevering in the extremely reductive view of archaeology, and at the same time neglecting important epistemological perspectives of the discipline.

The challenge of extending: the international setting

This chapter’s discussion of yardstick competition among national governments is less about substance than about the puzzle raised by its almost complete neglect by researchers. It poses the question why, since there is much circumstantial evidence of the relevance of the mechanism in reality, there is so little work on it in the empirical literature. Admittedly, moving from the propitious setting of fiscal federalism to the relationship among national governments encounters technical difficulties. But it also encounters ideological and sociological obstacles. For instance, the specific situation of the United States with regard to the possible impact of yardstick competition, taken together with the well-deserved worldwide influence of US scholarship, may have something to do in the puzzling lack of attention that is also given to yardstick competition in the context of small open economies or societies such as the European ones.

Introduction

One of the most striking developments in moral philosophy over the last half century has been the remarkable explosion in the discussion of animal ethics, that part of moral philosophy that deals with our moral obligations toward (nonhuman) animals. It would of course be an exaggeration, but only a mild one, to say that fifty years ago philosophical discussion of the treatment of animals was virtually nonexistent. The topic suffered from something close to complete neglect. On the rare occasion when a moral philosopher had something to say about animals, it was largely a matter of admitting—albeit only in passing—that it was wrong to be cruel to them, that the gratuitous infliction of pain was morally problematic. And then, for the most part, the matter was typically left at that....

NATIONAL IDEA AS THE DOMINANT OF YURIY KOSACH JOURNALISM 30S OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The article analyzes Yuriy Kosach’s journalism of the 30s of the twentieth century as a component of multifaceted creativity in the context of historical circumstances and literary and critical essays, the national idea as its dominant is singled out. It was emphasized that the relevance of the study is due to almost complete neglect of his 1930s journalism in contemporary research and insufficient attention to its conceptualism. It is noted that the Ukrainian journalistic narrative can not be imagined today without the work of Yuri Kosach, as his work is large, recently the reprint of works in Ukraine began to appear: the novel “Rubicon Khmelnitsky”, the collection “Prose of the lives of others”, novels “The Winner Pondi “,” Day of anger “, a historical prose in three books, novels and stories on the pages of the magazine” Courier Kryvbas “).Attention is paid to the fact that Yuri Kosach’s journalistic work of this period is a reflection of his ideological and ideological struggles, aesthetic orientations, manifestations of changes and fluctuations in his personal priorities. Were described his publications such as “To the Genesis of Ukrainian Nationalism”, “Dogma of the Struggle”, “On the Meeting of the 27th Anniversary of November”, “On the Guard of the Nation”, published in the “Ukrainian Word” weekly. It was revealed that Yuriy Kosach’s contemporary journalistic work gives an opportunity to characterize his vision and understanding of national problems, to understand their vision. The main problem that Yuri Kosach was interested in in the 1930s was the political life of both Western Ukraine and Ukraine as a whole. He made significant efforts to organize and define strategic priorities in solving the main task of activating Ukrainians in the establishment of national self-affirmation and Ukrainian statehood.

Some Random Thoughts about Victimological Movement in the World with Special Reference to India

Historically, priority of the criminal justice system was always to establish the guilt of the accused and provide a punishment to the offender. Even after the advent of scientific criminology, focus was on all aspects of the offender, to the complete neglect of the victim. Victim was always treated as a witness, and victim justice has been a struggle throughout the world. Many scholars and criminal justice administrators recommended urgent measures to improve the conditions of victims, particularly after the historic Report of President’s Task Force in 1982 in the USA. Since then a victimological movement emerged which culminated in the creation of UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, 1985. In this article, the emergence of victimological movement, its impact and the subsequent developments in India are discussed.

ESSENCE – EXISTENCE – COMMUNICATION: ALTERNATIVES OF TANGENTS

Existential tradition provides at least two lines of development of the problem: the first line is created as a return to true existence by the abandonment of mediocre communication; The second line emphasizes the doom of a collision with the Other, in which the latter is one of the stages in the formation of self-consciousness. The actuality of the study is due to the need for the integration of these two models, refuting the widespread opinion on existentialism as the apology of complete decline, decadence, solipsism, human passivity, and, finally, the unnecessity of philosophical act in the state of complete neglect of the subject, as well as the conditions of homelessness of their own being. We will move in a logical way, which can be schematically represented in the form of a parabola: from the phenomenological macro level (J.-P. Sartre) to ambiguity, curiosity, reminiscences of everyday We, and through the ontologization of the latter to the problem of existence (M. Heidegger), of course, in the existential interpretation of it. We will be interested not only in the potential of language transformational processes in a certain field of philosophy, but also in parallel with their real incarnations in what we call the phenomenon of postmodern, full of the consequences of the Heideggerian view of language in its distorted variation (J. Derrida). The purpose of the study is to establish alternatives in the coordinates of the essence of existence-communication through overcoming both “atomicity” and “totalitarianism” of the subject on the basis of philosophical and existential principles.

The Pattern of Repetition and the Quest for Creativity

A common application of parametric design is observed in the field of generative processes. Offering the possibility of incorporation of variety along with multiplicity, parametric has presented new ways of creatively employing such repetitive patterns. However, the application of this creativity is often restricted up to formal characteristics, with a complete neglect of perceptual qualities of the composed space. In this reference, the chapter primarily questions whether creativity is only applicable to the formal attributes of the repetitive pattern in parametric design; and further aims to examine how parametric design can undertake a repetitive pattern to simultaneously achieve remarkable creativity in its formal as well as perceptual attributes. This aim is addressed here by proposing a particular approach of assemblage; an approach that can enable the designer to visualise the constant interaction between organizational qualities and perceptual qualities of the composition; and in turn to achieve the desired attribute of the compositional whole.

Estimation of Configurational Probability and Phase Behaviour of N-n-undecyl-D-gluconamide having V-Shaped Conformation – A Molecular Simulation Approach

The present article deals with the configurational probabilities of a smectogen N-n-undecyl-Dgluconamide (GAM11). The complete neglect differential overlap (CNDO/2) method has been employed to compute the net atomic charge and atomic dipole moment components at each atomic center. The modified Rayleigh-Schr¨odinger perturbation theory along with the multicentered-multipole expansion method has been employed to evaluate the long-range intermolecular interactions, while a ‘6-exp’ potential function has been assumed for short-range interactions. The total interaction energy values obtained during different modes of molecular interactions have been used as input to calculate the configurational probability at room temperature (300 K), and smectic-isotropic transition temperature (429:7 K) using the Maxwell-Boltzmann formula. The various possible geometrical arrangements of molecular pairs have been considered. Further, an attempt has been made to explain the smectic behaviour of GAM11 in terms of their relative order based on the molecular parameters introduced in this paper