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The problem is that "the academic view" is a messy web of ideas and findings, with a lot of uncertainty and inconsistencies That’s a cop-out. What it’s really
by chongli 3y ago
The problem is that "the academic view" is a messy web of ideas and findings, with a lot of uncertainty and inconsistencies
That’s a cop-out. What it’s really saying to me (as a non-academic) is that they don’t have a theory. That is really bad news for a field struggling to be respected as a science.
Where is the Newton of history? Where is the Einstein or the Darwin of anthropology? Diamond earns my respect for having the courage to even try.
- Cornbilly 3y agoThis just reads as the typical HN veneration of arrogance.
- CSMastermind 3y ago> Where is the Einstein or the Darwin of anthropology? Diamond is more the Jean-Baptiste Lamarck of Anthropology.
- chongli 3y agoThen who is the Einstein or the Darwin of anthropology? If Diamond is not credible, then who is? It's a lot easier to pick apart someone else's theory than it is to advance your own. If no one in a field is willing to step forward with a theory then the whole field is worthless.
- rcxdude 3y agoWell, duh. Not every branch of academia has a grand unified theory of their field. That's what physics is going for, and still hasn't succeeded at. That doesn't make any random attempt at a theory a good one. Coming up with a theory is easy if you don't bother to be constrained by pesky details that don't match your theory, but unfortunately description of human society is actually incredibly patchwork, messy, and inconsistent.