Gods Concerned with Morality

Gods Stratified Unstratified

Yes 24 2

No 8 12

___________________

Chi Square = 14.609

P Value = 0.00013228

 Requirements ofScientific Explanations

 1. Major concepts must have empirical referents. 2. Specific phenomena under investigation and the relationships among them

must be measurable. 

--operational definitions 

3. Inferences and abstractions should be based on objective criteria and involve generally agreed-upon criteria. 

--intersubjectivity 

4. The relationships among the various elements included in an analysis should be testable and refutable. 

--falsifiability

Assumptions Propositions Hypotheses Conclusions

Newton vs. Einstein

Special Creation vs. Evolution

Hindu Theology vs. Irrigation

Chagnon vs. Harris vs. Abruzzi

Incest

all 1st cousins

FB S/D & MS

S/D

FB S/D & MS S/D

All 1st cousins

Hill’s Criteria of Causation

• Temporal Relationship

• Strength

• Dose-Response Relationship

• Consistency

• Plausibility

• Consideration of Alternate Explanations

• Experiment

• Specificity

• Coherence

The Uniformitarian Principle

Marital structure  

Is it possible to generate a logically consistent etic explanation for why different forms of marriage are commonly practiced in various societies?   Consider the following questions: 

1. Under what conditions is polygyny more likely to be practiced?  2. Under what conditions is polyandry more likely to be practiced?   3. Under what conditions is monogamy more likely to be practiced?  4. Under what conditions is single-parenthood more likely to be practiced? 

* * * * *  5. What are the costs vs. benefits of having children in foraging societies? 6. What are the costs vs. benefits of having children in subsistence based

horticultural and agricultural societies? 7. What are the costs vs. benefits of having children in urban industrial

societies? 8. What are the costs vs. benefits of having children in post-industrial

(hyperindustrial) societies?

 

"A concern with knowing the world, rather than advocating a view of the world because it confirms some political, ideological, or religious project, has always been fundamental to scientific philosophy.“

  --Lawrence Kuznar (1997)

Cultural MaterialismTerms and Concepts

  Infrastructural Determinism

  Infrastructure Structure Superstructure

 Mode of Production Domestic Economy

  Mode of Reproduction Political Economy 

* * * * * * * * *  Material Conditions Organization Norms, Values

Population/Resource Economic Beliefs, ScienceCost/Benefit Family, Kinship Religion, AttitudesEcology Social, Political

Religious, Warfare

Selection Adaptation Enculturation   Life Support Systems Emic vs. Etic

Energy Flow Rational ExplanationCritical Resources Population vs. Culture

  Malthusian * Neo-Malthusian * Non-Malthusian

   Population Productivity Intensification