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Epistemology of the Significance Concept

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Joseph A. Tainter  and
G. John Lucas
Joseph A. Tainter
Affiliation:
Cibola National Forest, Albuquerque, NM 87112
G. John Lucas
Affiliation:
University of Albuquerque, Albuquerque, NM 87140
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Abstract

Although the concept of significance has been widely discussed in cultural resource management, the origin of the idea and the epistemology underlying it have remained unexamined. This paper outlines the history of the significance concept in historic preservation and traces the current view of significance to the empiricist-positivist school of Western philosophical thought. Flaws in the arguments of this school, and in the logic of the significance concept, are raised and discussed. Potential approaches for dealing with aspects of the significance dilemma are proposed.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 48 , Issue 4 , October 1983 , pp. 707 - 719
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1983

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