Giorgio Buccellati, Critique of Archaeological Reason

Classification

Giorgio Buccellati, March 2014

Classification and categorization
The inventory as a closed system
Attribute definition: classification's Achilles' heel
Perception of structure
Competence and awareness
Vernacular classifications
The import of classification for the Critique
The architectural dimension
References

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Classification and categorization

     taxonomy
     concept of "fuori serie," "fuori classe"
     relationship to Kant's categorial system: -emic categorization as intrinsic to human "pure" reason
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The inventory as a closed system

     
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Attribute definition: classification's Achilles' heel

     
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Perception of structure

     "Spatial competence"
     sense of structure in 4Republics
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Competence and awareness

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Vernacular classifications

store inventories
ICOM redlist
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The import of classification for the Critique

     Within archaeological theory, artifact classification is the area that comes closest to the concerns developed within the framework of an archaeological critique and of hermeneutics. It is here that formal criteria have been most closely scrutinized in function of arriving at a determination of the mental template from which the artifactual assemblage derived.
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The architectural dimension

     
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References

     1972 Conklin Folk Classification
     1976 Levin 1977 "Ascription of Functions"
     1978 Chang "Historical Reality"
     2007 Read Classification
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