SV: Is the Aryan Invasion a Myth?

[H.M.Hubey]

Lars Martin Fosse wrote:

> using different methods. For one thing, cultural and historical processes are
> not subject to "laws" (pace Marx), and even if we assume that these processes
> function according to statistical trends, we have - at least! -  a VERY severe

This is as bad an assumption that they are!

But evidence shows indeed that cultural processes do have plenty of
determinism even if not at the same level as physical processes. Look at
civilization all around you. Why do they all modern civilizations
resemble
each other?  Why do traditional civilizations resemble each other? If
they
do not, then what exactly causes scholars to create these categories?

What you are writing contradicts even what social scientists themselves
say and do.

What you want to say is something like "we do not yet have equations
like Maxwell's
Equations of sociology".


> sampling problem when we try to evaluate such trends. Another problem is that
> we cannot make experiments with the past.

That's true enough but it never stopped economists from posing theories
and
testing them using math and statistics. The only thing stopping social
scientists and historical linguists is inertia and obstructionism.

BUT: Having said that, I'll say once
> more what I have said many times already: The humantities (and Indology) could
> do with a bit of statistics and mathematics. As for physics and engineering,
> you should have noticed that archaeology uses such methods already.

Yes, they should use more :-)


--
Best Regards,
Mark
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