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Central Place Theory and the Reciprocity Between Theory and Evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Peter Kosso  and
Cynthia Kosso
Peter Kosso
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy Northern Arizona University
Cynthia Kosso
Affiliation:
Department of History Northern Arizona University
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Abstract

Information about the prehistoric past is available only in the material remains. To be meaningful, these remains must be interpreted under the influence of a theory of some general or specific aspect of the past. For this reason, prehistoric archaeology clearly shows the reciprocity between theory and evidence and the tension between having to impose information on the evidence in order to discover information in the evidence. We use a specific case in the archaeology of Minoan Crete, a case that uses Central Place Theory as a guide to understanding the evidence, to demonstrate a coherence model of scientific knowledge.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 62 , Issue 4 , December 1995 , pp. 581 - 598
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1995

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Footnotes

†

Send reprint requests to P. Kosso, Department of Philosophy, or C. Kosso, Department of History, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011.

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