CHRONOCENTRISM 1)3)
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A tendency to explain facts of the past in terms of contemporary beliefs.
The archeologist Timothy TAYLOR gives a typical example: As "many archeologists see…a widespread signature of cannibalism across different continents, in different frames, another group of archeologists start to say: "Well, there must be other explanations- because humans don't do this" (Interview New Scientist, sept.28, 2002, p. 48)
While "anthropocentrism"and "culturocentrism"are well recognized as a source of dubious interpretations in human sciences, there is scant perception of the psychological and socio-cultural differences in former societies. A good example is our deeply seated uneasiness about witch hunting in western societies, a behavior that was considered normal to our forefathers, of which some may even have been witch hunters…or "witches."
Categories
- 1) General information
- 2) Methodology or model
- 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
- 4) Human sciences
- 5) Discipline oriented
Publisher
Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).
To cite this page, please use the following information:
Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]
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