Problems and Pitfalls in the History of Technology

1. Problems and Pitfalls in the History of Technology

2. Incomplete Record • Tendency to ignore the mundane • Elitism, disdain for manual work • Secrecy and isolation • Destruction of documents • Destruction of artifacts • Uncertain dates, identification of persons, unclear descriptions

3. Uncertain Interpretation of Artifacts • Many Artifacts are of Unknown Purpose • Purpose--may or may not have been practical • How made? One way to answer is to reproduce it using ancient methods

4. Fallacies of Reasoning • Oversimplification • Determinism, linear view of history. • “You can’t stop progress” • The “Voltairean Fallacy” • “You can’t turn back the clock” • Post Hoc ergo Propter Hoc (after this, therefore because of this)

5. Oversimplification • Real issue is that theory leads to wrong conclusions • Validity, not simplicity, is the issue • Simplicity does not make an idea wrong

6. Cultural Biases

7. Fallacies of Reasoning Ethnocentrism • We are superior to others Reverse ethnocentrism • We are the source of all evil in the world "Chronocentrism” • Present-day values are superior to those of the past • Nobody in the past ever made accurate observations

8. A Lesson in Chronocentrism

9. There is a lack of consensus on Cause and Effect for many events in history