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Social Archaeology as the Study of Ethical Life: Agency, Intentionality, and Responsibility

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Explorations in Archaeology and Philosophy

Part of the book series: Synthese Library ((SYLI,volume 433))

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Abstract

Supporters of agency research in archaeology are currently divided into two groups: those who remain somewhat faithful to classical social theories that define agency as a manifestation of individual and/or collective intentions, and those who have embraced object agency and perceive it as a dynamic force distributed among human and non-human objects. This chapter argues that agency according to the view of these two groups is too labile, contradictory, and counterproductive, and suggests a notion of agency based on G.W.F. Hegel’s practical philosophy—a notion of agency based on ethical normativism. For Hegel, agency concerns the normative conditions that allow agents to experience and claim actions as their own. Ownership over actions imply assuming responsibility for those same actions. From these ideas, it becomes clear that agency is not a property of human individuals nor of social collectives, as suggested by theorists such as Roy Bhaskar and Anthony Giddens, but rather a historical product enacted by social institutions. Rather than the causal descriptions in which most of archaeological science is embedded, social archaeology concerns the understanding (Verstehen) of human action under intentional descriptions. Social archaeology is the de facto study of agency in past societies, an archaeology built around historical content that contextualizes the intentional/ethical actions of past peoples.

“Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.”

G.M. Trevelyan

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It should be noted that Hegel did not discuss agency per se as this concept does not exist in the German language; nevertheless, his ideas on philosophy of action are equivalent to what has been discussed in archaeology under the rubric ‘agency studies’. In German, the closest translation of ‘agency’ is ‘Handlung’ which translates roughly to ‘social action’.

  2. 2.

    Barry Barnes (2000) and Jeanette Kennett (2001), among others, have also explored the link between agency and responsibility, although not under a Hegelian framework.

  3. 3.

    Descombes does not describe transitivity as ‘intentional’ and ‘unintentional’ although his ideas remain clearer in this context if we use these words.

  4. 4.

    These concepts are based on the German word ‘Geist’ which has no direct translation in English. The closest equivalents are ‘mind’ and ‘spirit’. Both these English terms highlight some of the properties associated to the Hegelian notion of ‘Geist’: ‘mind’ emphasizes the mental property of intentional action (as argued by Franz Brentano (2015 [1874]) whereas the English meaning of ‘spirit’ emphasizes prevailing mood or attitude of a person or group of people (Zeitgeist = the mood or attitude of a time). I have opted for using the English term ‘mind’ following the convention of Vincent Descombes’ translator (Descombes 2001, ch 10, fn 1).

  5. 5.

    I assume many people would disagree with the idea that social archaeology is defunct. What is meant by this is that archaeology of recent years seems to have lost supporters of social theory, in favor of post-humanist theory and archaeological science (Kristiansen 2014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    Artur Ribeiro

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  1. Artur Ribeiro
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  1. Department of Philosophy, Mount Allison University, Sackville NB, Canada, School of Philosophy and Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Acton ACT, Australia, Acton, ACT, Australia

    Anton Killin

  2. Department of Philosophy, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Sean Allen-Hermanson

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Ribeiro, A. (2021). Social Archaeology as the Study of Ethical Life: Agency, Intentionality, and Responsibility. In: Killin, A., Allen-Hermanson, S. (eds) Explorations in Archaeology and Philosophy. Synthese Library, vol 433. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61052-4_12

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