Anthropology is trying to answer questions about things that either aren’t measurable, or only measurable by proxies.
Otherwise it’s “history” - being basically every data that is recorded directly from the source or with few proxies
This really messes with epistemological reasoning chains and strength of “proof” that can be made from proxy data
You can’t build an a/b test or experimental process or define a study population for questions like:
“what happened in 15000BC”
“Why did humans develop language”
Etc…
That’s not to say you can’t have very strong conclusions, but just think of the predictive power of keplers equations compared to the process of specieation.
Anthropology is trying to answer questions about things that either aren’t measurable, or only measurable by proxies.
Otherwise it’s “history” - being basically every data that is recorded directly from the source or with few proxies
This really messes with epistemological reasoning chains and strength of “proof” that can be made from proxy data
You can’t build an a/b test or experimental process or define a study population for questions like:
“what happened in 15000BC”
“Why did humans develop language”
Etc…
That’s not to say you can’t have very strong conclusions, but just think of the predictive power of keplers equations compared to the process of specieation.