Thanks for the description but I am mainly just looking for a way to
conclude my paper. Just a breif description of the differences between
processual and post processual.
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Nick Gessler
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2000 4:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Post Processual vs. Processual / Posthuman
Hi Jayson,
There's a lot been said about the issues. I would urge you to look at the
"new sciences of complexity" for a contemporary model of scientific
practice. And I'm sure that won't be among your recommended
readings. Here's my take on the subject, after having lived through much
of this debate:
If we need to talk about "post-" archaeologies, I suggest we go all the way
and talk about "posthuman" archaeology. One can make the epistemological
claim that the world consists of processes and objects, and further that
the objects themselves are instantiations of yet lower level processes. So
if archaeology is not about "process," then what is it about? Must it then
be about "objects?" If so, we must realize that these "objects" are
themselves processes of yet another kind. So this course leads us
inescapably back to process...
The aims of the so-called "post-processual" archaeology were mmostly rather
muddled and often misconstruals of much of the empty baggage developed
under the broader program of postmodernism...
Certainly a more mature epistemological stand is that of
posthumanism. That is where the "post-"s are headed. And that direction
resumes the agenda of understanding process...
I"m interested in getting on with the processual research agenda, not in
"keeping the conversation going." That has led me to complex adaptive
systems, artificial life, artificial societies, artificial culture, and
evolutionary computation. That means multiagent computer modeling and
simulation. Computation is PURE process running on a material
substrate. It is both posthuman and processual.
If anyone is interested in this direction, please let me know and I'll
elaborate...
Cheers,
Nick
At 02:36 PM 10/8/00 -0500, you wrote:
>I am writing a paper for an Method and Theory of Archaeology class and I
>need to compare Post processual with processual, anybody have any info.
>
>Thanks
>
>Jayson G.
Nicholas Gessler
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