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A. The more obvious remark is that the analysis deals primarily with terminological systems, or more correctly with sets of terms. The question whether such sets constitute a system has to remain open until the analysis is completed. The terms are selected on the basis of their reference to supposedly well-accepted categories of denotata: kinsmen, in the more frequent case,' or plants,2 physiography,3 personality attributes,4 etc. The resulting sets are in this respect similar to lexical domains or semantic fields in linguistics, and there is indeed a good case for considering that componential analysis should be related for that reason to linguistics, even if it aims at the design of structural models the interpretation of which belongs to anthropology. More specifically, by equating componential with semantic analysis or sememics to account for its structural goals, one perhaps conveys a better idea of its analogies with the object and methods of linguistics, both traditional5 and contemporary,6 and of its differences from other methods of formal analysis in anthropology, which imply no such reference to the naming, in natural language, of the phenomena under study. B. Once a given set of terms has been selected, the next step is to match it against a number of analytical features (usually named in the observer's language), which are taken to be, or at least to include, the meaningful components of a possible structural model for all lexical units within the set. C. The models derived through componential analysis are thus the product of a study in the interaction of two sets of data, one linguistic, the other nonlinguistic. This observation is undoubtedly trivial, but it will help us to establish the limits of that method, when considered within the framework of archeology. Before doing so, let us add a few comments on the three points that have

L’analyse logiciste des constructions savantes a pour but de mettre à nu leurs composantes symboliques : une base de données (observations et présuppositions) et un ensemble d’opérations de réécriture exprimant le raisonnement qui relie cette base aux thèses de la construction. Les travaux inspirés de ce programme depuis une vingtaine d’années soulèvent des questions intéressantes dans les perspectives d’une épistémologie pratique maintes fois exposées. L’étude des conflits d’interprétation y tient une large place ; elle s’apparente à l’analyse des controverses scientifiques mais vise moins à expliquer celles-ci, du point de vue socio-historique, qu’à mieux définir les voies choisies pour les résoudre, les éluder ou les dépasser, selon les cas. Le questionnement logiciste porte sur les conséquences intellectuelles et institutionnelles de ces choix. L’affirmation de sa pérennité procède à la fois d’un constat et d’un pari, l’un et l’autre argumentés dans cet article. The logicist analysis of scholarly constructions aims at revealing their symbolic components: a data base (observations and presuppositions) and a whole lot of operations of rewriting expressing the reasoning which links this base to the thesis of construction. Works inspired from this programme since some twenty years raise interesting questions in the perspectives of a practical epistemology often exposed. The study of conflicts of interpretation holds a large place here: it is closely connected to the analysis of scientific controversies but aims less at explaining these from a socio-historical point of view, than at better defining the paths chosen to resolve them, elude them or go beyond them, according to the case. Logicist questioning is concerned with the intellectual and institutional consequences of these choices. The affirmation of its perpetuity follows from a statement and a bet at the same time, both argued in this article.

L'auteur evoque sa rencontre avec Henri Seyrig a l'Institut francais d'Archeologie de Beyrouth, grâce auquel il decida de presenter au CNRS, dans les annees 50, un programme de recherche axe sur les methodes formelles et les machines en archeologie, a l'origine de la creation, en 1959, du Centre d'Analyse Documentaire pour l'Archeologie, centre de recherche charge de promouvoir les methodes et les techniques du traitement automatique de l'information en archeologie. Il rappelle qu'Henri Seyrig est egalement a l'origine d'autres projets tels que la coordination des services lies a l'archeologie, l'opportunite d'une politique nationale de la recherche archeologique couvrant la France et l'etranger, l'utilite d'un decloisonement de la discipline et de la mobilite des archeologues, etc.

L'A. examine les conceptions defendues par J.-C. Passeron dans son ouvrage «Le raisonnement sociologique». Il etudie la distinction operee par ce dernier entre sciences sociales et sciences exactes. Il souligne que pour ce dernier le raisonnement sociologique est mixte en ce sens que les sciences sociales sont des sciences empiriques mais qu'en meme temps elles presentent un caractere historique. Il montre que Passeron s'est interroge sur l'unite des sciences sociales, sur leur mode de rationalite, sur leur capacite a progresser. L'A. presente ses analyses du langage naturel et de la formalisation du raisonnement sociologique

A way of rationalizing this procedure consists in postulating the existence of a ‘universal semantic’ tacitly justifying inferences of the first type, alongside a set of ‘local semantics’ which provide an explicit foundation for inferences of the second type. Thus, in one of the examples analysed (ibid., pp. 12-54) a bas-relief which shows ‘a person holding a large bird of indeterminate nature on his gloved hand’ is related to the theme of hunting, by a chain of inferences which might be schematized as follows: ‘large indeterminate bird on gloved hand?falcon?hunting’. The knowledge presupposed if one is to accept this interpretation is nowhere explicitly stated: it is supposed to stem from that ‘universal’ semantic which goes without saying, by implication. Conversely, the rest of the interpretation is anything but obvious: the identification of the human figure as the sultan of a Seljuk dynasty which reigned at Konya in Anatolia during the 13th century is the product of a chain of inferences which are subject to doubt. In fact, they are contradicted by other interpretations, and the author takes care to justify them by references to all sorts of ‘local’ facts. These facts are local in the sense that they all refer to the specific cultural context of the monument, defined in terms of the usual dimensions of space, time and relevant human groups (in this case Anatolia during the 13th century peopled by Turks from Central Asia under the Seljuk dynasty). No-one wouldever use these same facts to support the interpretation of a similar scene found in a ruined Aztec temple.

All the products of archaeological research can be regarded as theories in the etymological sense of the word: namely points of view concerning events or ways of life in ancient societies, inferred from the analysis of material remains. This is fairly obvious when archaeologists embark upon explanations of complex historical phenomena about which written texts offer little or no evidence, such as the emergence of agriculture at different times in various parts of the world (the so-called Neolithic revolution), the decline and fall of the Maya empire, etc. Ideas differ regarding the weight of various factors in such phenomena—climatic, economic, demographic, etc. We are clearly dealing then with alternative theories of a complex process; but the same is true of the more modest products of archaeological research. Assigning a function to an object of unknown use, for instance, is a way to “explain” it, from a utilitarian or any other viewpoint (social, religious, magical, etc.). More basically still, the attribution of space and time coordinates to archaeological finds is an inevitable component of any explanation in which those finds play a part. Thus, it is impossible to account for the sudden abundance of coarse hand-made pottery in ancient Hellenistic sites of the Black sea unless we are able to demonstrate first that those unexpected potsherds belonged to the traditional ware of the Scytho-Sarmatian tribes that roamed through Eurasia in the last centuries of the 1st millennium B.C. and eventually mixed or traded with Greek settlers in that area. The generality of this process stands out in the interpretation of iconographical monuments; in order to make sense of prehistoric paintings, for instance, one needs to put forward a number of arguments by analogy which are in fact different ways of looking at the painted caves—in other words, different viewpoints, different theories meant to explain the motivations of prehistoric artists or the destination of their works.

Gardin Jean-Claude. « Quand on voit c'qu'on voit, quand on sait c'qu'on sait ». In: L'Homme, 1997, tome 37 n°143. Histoire d'homme Jean Pouillon. pp. 83-90.

Gardin Jean-Claude. Conséquences du calcul dans les humanités. In: Le médiéviste et l'ordinateur, Numéro spécial,1990. Actes de la Table ronde (Paris, CNRS, 17 novembre 1989) pp. 189-193.

Gardin Jean-Claude, Gentelle Pierre. I. L'exploitation du sol en Bactriane antique. In: Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient. Tome 66, 1979. pp. 1-29.

RAPPORTS ENTRE L'ANALYSE DOCUMENTAIRE QUI UTILISE UN CORPUS DE DEFINITIONS, LE CODE, SUR LEQUEL S'APPUIE LA DESCRIPTION D'UN DOCUMENT ET L'ANALYSE STRUCTURALE QUI VISE A DEGAGER DES MODELES RENDANT COMPTE DE L'AGENCEMENT DE CERTAINS FAITS.

Tornou-se hoje lugar comum referir, para nos lastimarmos ou nos felicitarmos,o crescimento extraordinário dos conhecimentos humanos de uns cemanos para cá, e os resultados dêsse enriquecimento no universo contemporâneo.Em compensação, comovemo-nos muito menos com as conseqüênciasinternas do progresso no âmbito científico. Quando muito, denunciamos periodicamenteos males mais evidentes: uma extrema especialização, imposta pelaextensão das pesquisas, e a conseqüente separação de uma disciplina a outrada vida científica à vida cotidiana também — separação geradora dos distúrbiostécnicos ou psicológicos na medida em que mais se deplora o isolamentodas ações ou a solidão dos homens; de qualquer forma, distúrbios decomunicação, e apresente-se logo que nenhum remédio será realmente eficazse de fato não assegurar o melhor trânsito da informação na organizaçãocoletiva da pesquisa.

L'emploi d'ordinateurs dans la recherche scientifique n'est plus une nouveauté. En dix ans, le « traitement automatique de l'Information » s'est haussé au rang d'une spécialité, bientôt d'une discipline originale, avec ses techniciens — ingénieurs, mathématiciens, logiciens — ses instituts, ses journaux, et, naturellement, ses congrès. Il ne se passe plus de mois que l'on ne signale, çà et là, dix applications de ces méthodes, aussi diverses par leur champ que monotones dans leur conception. Aussi faut-il bien de la hardiesse pour oser aujourd'hui publier cette banalité qu'est devenue la mise au point d'une procédure d'exploitation automatique de telles ou telles données, trop nombreuses ou trop complexes pour qu'on les puisse aisément maîtriser par d'autres voies.

Tchernia André, Gardin Jean-Claude, Morel Jean-Paul, Gros Pierre, Thébert Yvon, Guzzo Pier Giovanni, Picard Olivier, Ozanam Didier, Vincent Bernard, Pietri Charles. La publication en archéologie. In: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome. Antiquité, tome 98, n°1. 1986. pp. 359-386.

Bernard Paul, Francfort Henri-Paul, Gardin Jean-Claude, Liger Jean-Claude, Lyonnet Bertille, Veuve Serge. II. Fouilles d'Aï Khanoum (Afghanistan) : campagne de 1974. In: Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient. Tome 63, 1976. pp. 5-58.

Gardin Jean-Claude. L'archéologie du paysage bactrien. In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 124ᵉ année, N. 3, 1980. pp. 480-501.

L'archéologie est depuis vingt ans le lieu d'un programme de recherches consacrées à une analyse formelle des constructions historiques, inspirée du paradigme computationnel. Les travaux menés dans cette voie apportent quelque lumière sur des questions d'épistémologie pratique, groupées ici sous trois titres: le sens et la place du " naturel " dans ces constructions (langage naturel, logique naturelle, raisonnement naturel) ; la manière dont on s'y accommode ou non de la pluralité des interprétations et de leur caractère réputé non cumulatif ; la viabilité des positions médianes recommandées aujourd'hui entre science et littérature ou sens commun. L'article expose les enseignements tirés du programme logiciste sur ces différents points, en archéologie, et s'achève par une interrogation sur leur pertinence dans les sciences sociales en général., For twenty years, archeology has been the focus of a research program dedicated to a formal analysis of historical constructs inspired from the computational paradigm. Research conducted in this direction has cast some light on practical epistemological issues, grouped here under three headings: meaning and the place of "natural" phenomena in these constructs (natural language, natural logic, natural reasoning) ; the manner of coming to terms, or not, with the plurality of interpretations, and their reputed non cumulative nature ; the viability today of recommended median positions between science and literature or common sense. The paper presents what has been learned from the logicist program on these different issues in archeology and concludes with a questioning of their relevance in the social sciences in general., La arqueología es desde hace veinte años el lugar de un programa de investigaciones consagradas a un análisis formal de las construcciones históricas, inspirada del paradigma " computacional ". Los trabajos realizados en esta línea nos esclarecen sobre cuestiones de epistemología práctica, reagrupadas aquí bajo tres títulos: el sentido y el lugar de lo " natural " en esas construcciones (lenguaje natural, lógica natural, razonamiento natural) ; la manera en la cual nos situamos o no con la pluralidad de las interpretaciones y su carácter reputado de no cumulativo ; la viabilidad de las posiciones medianas recomendadas hoy entre ciencia, literatura o sentido común. El artículo expone las enseñanzas recogidas del programa " logicista " sobre estos diferentes puntos, en arquelogía, y termina con una interrogación sobre su pertinencia en las ciencias sociales en general.

When the French archaeological delegation in Afghanistan resumed its work after the interruption of the second world war, little was known about the pottery that could be collected on the ancient sites of the country for any of the major historical periods. More attention had been paid to the nobler remains of the past when they were found (e.g. at Bamiyan, Begram, etc.); and when they could not be found, as in the well-known example of our excavations at Bactres, directed towards the discovery of Greek art or architecture, where conclusions were drawn in a way which our Soviet colleagues, working on the northern side of the Oxus, found sometimes hasty. The reason was that they were able to draw inferences also from the less noble materials, including potsherds, which happened to contradict our a silentio interpretations.