L’innovation méthodologique, entre bifurcation personnelle et formation des disciplines

What are the reasons leading some researchers to advocate the application of certain methods on the ground that they are more precise and more systematic, even though they are also more abstract and more constraining than those currently in use? This question is examined here through a review of the...

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Main Author: Sébastien Plutniak
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Éditions de la Sorbonne 2017-11-01
Series:Revue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/rhsh/435
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author Sébastien Plutniak
author_facet Sébastien Plutniak
author_sort Sébastien Plutniak
collection DOAJ
description What are the reasons leading some researchers to advocate the application of certain methods on the ground that they are more precise and more systematic, even though they are also more abstract and more constraining than those currently in use? This question is examined here through a review of the evolution of the academic career of two French archaeologists, Georges Laplace and Jean-Claude Gardin. Their earliest works, dating from the 1950s, were characterized by the application of more abstract methodologies, based on formalization or on the use of computation. In the following decades, Laplace and Gardin’s approach remained marginal in France, even though at the same time, similar perspectives were becoming popular not only among English-speaking archaeologists but also in other academic fields in France. The biographical perspective adopted in this paper allows us to highlight the parallel trajectories and the tensions existing between the epistemical, ethical, biographical, and political dimensions that shaped the careers of Laplace and Gardin. As such, their academic experiences appear as the most radical forms of the contemporary aspiration to modernize and professionalize archaeology.
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spelling doaj-art-8d8fafbe8ec74b809f1366cce9b4200f2025-08-20T03:06:51ZengÉditions de la SorbonneRevue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines1963-10222017-11-013111313910.4000/rhsh.435L’innovation méthodologique, entre bifurcation personnelle et formation des disciplinesSébastien PlutniakWhat are the reasons leading some researchers to advocate the application of certain methods on the ground that they are more precise and more systematic, even though they are also more abstract and more constraining than those currently in use? This question is examined here through a review of the evolution of the academic career of two French archaeologists, Georges Laplace and Jean-Claude Gardin. Their earliest works, dating from the 1950s, were characterized by the application of more abstract methodologies, based on formalization or on the use of computation. In the following decades, Laplace and Gardin’s approach remained marginal in France, even though at the same time, similar perspectives were becoming popular not only among English-speaking archaeologists but also in other academic fields in France. The biographical perspective adopted in this paper allows us to highlight the parallel trajectories and the tensions existing between the epistemical, ethical, biographical, and political dimensions that shaped the careers of Laplace and Gardin. As such, their academic experiences appear as the most radical forms of the contemporary aspiration to modernize and professionalize archaeology.http://journals.openedition.org/rhsh/435History of ScienceBiographyArchaeological MethodsProfessionalizationApplied Mathematics
spellingShingle Sébastien Plutniak
L’innovation méthodologique, entre bifurcation personnelle et formation des disciplines
Revue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines
History of Science
Biography
Archaeological Methods
Professionalization
Applied Mathematics
title L’innovation méthodologique, entre bifurcation personnelle et formation des disciplines
title_full L’innovation méthodologique, entre bifurcation personnelle et formation des disciplines
title_fullStr L’innovation méthodologique, entre bifurcation personnelle et formation des disciplines
title_full_unstemmed L’innovation méthodologique, entre bifurcation personnelle et formation des disciplines
title_short L’innovation méthodologique, entre bifurcation personnelle et formation des disciplines
title_sort l innovation methodologique entre bifurcation personnelle et formation des disciplines
topic History of Science
Biography
Archaeological Methods
Professionalization
Applied Mathematics
url http://journals.openedition.org/rhsh/435
work_keys_str_mv AT sebastienplutniak linnovationmethodologiqueentrebifurcationpersonnelleetformationdesdisciplines