ABSTRACT

The ‘ontological turn’ in the social sciences is premised on the critique of representation. In this essay, I defend representation against some of the major criticisms advanced in archaeology. In developing my argument, I draw insights from the semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce and its incorporation in semiotic anthropology. I conclude that while it is not possible to go beyond representation, we can nonetheless improve our representational models through a ‘hermeneutics of generosity.’ Such a perspective involves opening up our interpretive practices to the agency of non-human actors not usually considered in our archaeological accounts. But it also involves engaging with descendent communities in the practice of collaborative knowledge production. These moves have the dual benefit of increasing scientific accuracy and underwriting meaningful social action.

摘要

社会科学中的“本体论转向”是以对表征的批判为前提的。在这篇文章中，我捍卫代表性反对考古学中提出的一些主要批评。在阐述我的论点时，我从查尔斯·桑德斯·皮尔斯 (Charles Sanders Peirce) 的符号学及其在符号人类学中的结合中汲取了见解。我的结论是，虽然不可能超越表征，但我们仍然可以通过“慷慨的诠释学”来改进我们的表征模型。这种观点涉及向非人类行为者的机构开放我们的解释实践，这在我们的考古描述中通常不被考虑。但它还涉及在协作知识生产实践中与后代社区的接触。