So this critique (https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/06/20/history-cliodynamics-weird-turchin/ …) in @ForeignPolicy on failures of the sort of data-driven pseudo-history we've been seeing a lot of lately is pretty spot on.
It's focused specifically on Joseph Henrich's recent 'WEIRD' book, but the critique is more broadly useful. 1/9
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Honestly, in my 100-level survey course, I have assignments built around moving students to these sorts of realizations, "oh, this source doesn't give me evidence for what people thought, only for what *this* person said" kind of stuff. And yet, here we are. Again. 7/9
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And I do mean *again* - Fafinski here, with a real economy of words, does a great job of setting out this tradition of 'scientific' pseudo-history - from Spengler and Huntington to Turchin, Henrich and Safra. He could have easily added Arthur de Gobineau (d 1882). 8/9
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Anyway, it's a good article. The key thing is to remember that no amount of fancy math can raise the reliability of a conclusion any higher than the reliability of the evidence it is based on. A statue with feet of clay is made no stronger by casting the torso in steel. end/9
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