Glossary

Act-utilitarianism An ethical theory that identifies the moral goodness of an action with the amount of (nonmoral) good (such as knowledge or happiness) that follows from the action.

Bayesian confirmation A model of confirmation that regards a hypothesis as confirmed when its probability after a particular test is higher than its prior probability.

Confirmation The relationship between hypotheses and the evidence that supports them, or, in the case of disconfirmation, fails to support them.

Deductive-nomological explanation A philosophical model that says that (some) scientific explanations are correct deductive arguments. The explanatory premises of these arguments consist of true statements of initial conditions along with at least one

Universal law. The conclusion of these arguments is a statement that the event-to-be-explained did in fact occur.

Hypothetico-deductive confirmation A model of

Confirmation in which a hypothesis is said to be confirmed when some observable prediction that follows deductively from the hypothesis turns out to be true.

Models of scientific explanation Accounts that attempt to identify the essential features of scientific explanation.

New archaeology Refers to an approach to archaeology that emphasizes the explicit use of scientific methods and adopts scientific goals.

Postprocessual archaeology Refers to an approach to archaeology that is critical of the new archaeology for its emphasis on science and ecological factors to the neglect of prehistoric symbolic behavior.

Prior probability The probability of a hypothesis before it is subjected to a particular test.

Rule-utilitarianism An ethical theory that identifies morally good behavior with following those rules of behavior that result in the greatest amount of (nonmoral) good in the world.

Systems explanation A type of archaeological explanation that invokes systemic features, such as negative and positive

Feedback, rather than external influences to account for patterns of change and development in archaeologically known societies. typology A system of classification based on qualities common to a number of individuals that distinguish them as an identifiable class.