Particularism and the retreat from theory in the archaeology of agricultural origins
Particularism and the retreat from theory in the archaeology of agricultural origins
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1308938110
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发表时间：
2014-04-29
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Piperno, Dolores R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gremillion, Kristen J.;Barton, Loukas;Piperno, Dolores R.
采用新的分析方法并将研究扩展到以前未开发的地区，极大地提高了与农业起源有关的数据的规模和分辨率。因此，认识到农业的不同历史路径和管理战略的连续性，使向粮食生产过渡的一般解释变得更加复杂。在这种环境下，更高层次的理论框架有时会被拒绝，理由是它们迫使得出与现实世界变异性不相容的结论。相反，一些持这种观点的人认为，应根据当地和历史上的偶然性因素来解释OA。这种从理论退回到支持特殊主义的错误信念是基于这样一种错误的信念，即农业起源等复杂现象需要同样复杂的解释，而且在缺乏基于理论的假设的情况下，解释是可能的。那些对泛化持怀疑态度的学者不愿接受人类行为的进化方法，理由是它们是非历史的、过于简单化的，并且对代理和意图不屑一顾。我们认为这些批评是错误的，并解释了为什么承认其进化史的人类行为的连贯理论对于促进对OA的理解至关重要。持续的进步取决于将人类行为和文化融入到进化发展生物学的新兴综合体中，该综合体为当代动植物驯化研究提供了信息。
The introduction of new analytic methods and expansion of research into previously untapped regions have greatly increased the scale and resolution of data relevant to the origins of agriculture (OA). As a result, the recognition of varied historical pathways to agriculture and the continuum of management strategies have complicated the search for general explanations for the transition to food production. In this environment, higher-level theoretical frameworks are sometimes rejected on the grounds that they force conclusions that are incompatible with real-world variability. Some of those who take this position argue instead that OA should be explained in terms of local and historically contingent factors. This retreat from theory in favor of particularism is based on the faulty beliefs that complex phenomena such as agricultural origins demand equally complex explanations and that explanation is possible in the absence of theoretically based assumptions. The same scholars who are suspicious of generalization are reluctant to embrace evolutionary approaches to human behavior on the grounds that they are ahistorical, overly simplistic, and dismissive of agency and intent. We argue that these criticisms are misplaced and explain why a coherent theory of human behavior that acknowledges its evolutionary history is essential to advancing understanding of OA. Continued progress depends on the integration of human behavior and culture into the emerging synthesis of evolutionary developmental biology that informs contemporary research into plant and animal domestication.