Dear Sun: Beware evos who demand to set the terms, for they will control the debate if you allow them. And control is all these Asberger's sufferers (see wikipedia if you are unfamiliar with Asberger's Syndrome) are after. It's not like they'll have a date this Saturday night.
Dear Coyoteman--came across a nice little quote, and I thought of you--
Anthropologists believe that the plural of anecdote is data.
IOW--Anthropology is just sociology with relics. A social science trying to pass itself off as important.
Anthropologists believe that the plural of anecdote is data.IOW--Anthropology is just sociology with relics. A social science trying to pass itself off as important.
Actually, anthropology has traditionally been divided into four primary fields: cultural, physical (biological/medical), linguistics, and archaeology.
The cultural and linguistics fields more closely resemble sociology, but the philosophical underpinnings are significantly different. There is limited use of the physical sciences, and some use of statistics.
The archaeology and physical anthropology fields (in which my primary training is) make extensive use of the physical sciences, so much so that they barely fit into the same department as the first two fields.
As an example, just in the past two weeks I have had to deal with faunal remains (animal bone and human bone), floral remains (pollen, phytoliths, and macrofloral), radiocarbon dating, stable isotopes (15N/14N, 13C/12C), lithics (the stone from which tools are made), and a number of other technical fields. Other fields we have to know something about include geology, soils, statistics (including sampling theory), etc. Occasionally the county coronor calls with interesting problems.
I am fairly accomplished in a couple of these fields, and have to be able to do all of the others at a basic level or better, and understand/interpret/compile the results supplied by other specialists for the studies I can't do myself.
And, unlike sociologists, archaeologists are not afraid to get their hands dirty!
Nice try at an insult, though; better luck next time.
I don't know how evos can expect anyone to take them seriously when they are afraid to teach both theories in the classroom, and let students decide for themselves.