Editing Tradition (section)

==In scholarly discourse==
In science, tradition is often used in the literature in order to define the relationship of an author's thoughts to that of his or her field.<ref name = Kurz129>Kurz-Milke and Martignon 129</ref> In 1948, philosopher of science Karl Popper suggested that there should be a "rational theory of tradition" applied to science which was fundamentally sociological. For Popper, each scientist who embarks on a certain research trend inherits the tradition of the scientists before them as he or she inherits their studies and any conclusions that superseded it.<ref name = Kurz129/> Unlike [[myth]], which is a means of explaining the natural world through means other than logical criticism, scientific tradition was inherited from Socrates, who proposed critical discussion, according to Popper.<ref name = Kurz129-130>Kurz-Milke and Martignon 129–130</ref> For [[Thomas Kuhn]], who presented his thoughts in a paper presented in 1977, a sense of such a critical inheritance of tradition is, historically, what sets apart the best scientists who change their fields is an embracement of tradition.<ref name = Kurz129-130/>

Traditions are a subject of study in several academic fields in [[social sciences]]—chiefly anthropology, [[archaeology]], and biology—with somewhat different meanings in different fields. It is also used in varying contexts in other fields, such as history, [[psychology]] and [[sociology]]. Social scientists and others have worked to refine the commonsense concept of tradition to make it into a useful concept for scholarly analysis. In the 1970s and 1980s, [[Edward Shils]] explored the concept in detail.<ref name="Handler and Innekin"/> Since then, a wide variety of social scientists have criticized traditional ideas about tradition; meanwhile, "tradition" has come into usage in biology as applied to nonhuman animals.

Tradition as a concept variously defined in different disciplines should not be confused with various traditions (perspectives, approaches) in those disciplines.<ref name="Patel2009">{{cite book|author=Sujata Patel|title=The ISA Handbook of Diverse Sociological Traditions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yWZGj7WghCEC&pg=PA5|year= 2009|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-84787-402-3|page=5}}</ref>

===Anthropology===
Tradition is one of the key concepts in anthropology; it can be said that anthropology is the study of "tradition in traditional societies".<ref name="Boyer1990-7">{{cite book|author=Pascal Boyer|title=Tradition as truth and communication: a cognitive description of traditional discourse|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C7cu0joBSM8C&pg=PR7|date=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-37417-0|page=7}}</ref> There is however no "theory of tradition", as for most anthropologists the need to discuss what tradition is seems unnecessary, as defining tradition is both unnecessary (everyone can be expected to know what it is) and unimportant (as small differences in definition would be just technical).<ref name="Boyer1990-7"/> There are however dissenting views; scholars such as [[Pascal Boyer]] argue that defining tradition and developing theories about it are important to the discipline.<ref name="Boyer1990-7"/>

===Archaeology===
In [[archaeology]], the term ''tradition'' is a set of [[archaeological culture|cultures]] or [[archaeological industry|industries]] which appear to develop on from one another over a period of time. The term is especially common in the study of [[American archaeology]].<ref name="Handler and Innekin" />

===Biology===
Biologists, when examining groups of non-humans, have observed repeated behaviors which are taught within communities from one generation to the next. Tradition is defined in biology as "a behavioral practice that is relatively enduring (i.e., is performed repeatedly over a period of time), that is shared among two or more members of a group, that depends in part on socially aided learning for its generation in new practitioners", and has been called a precursor to "culture" in the anthropological sense.<ref name = Fragaszy2>Fragaszy and Perry 2, 12</ref>

Behavioral traditions have been observed in groups of fish, birds, and mammals. Groups of orangutans and chimpanzees, in particular, may display large numbers of behavioral traditions, and in chimpanzees, transfer of traditional behavior from one group to another (not just within a group) has been observed. Such behavioral traditions may have evolutionary significance, allowing adaptation at a faster rate than genetic change.<ref>{{Cite journal
| doi = 10.1016/j.cub.2007.05.031
| issn = 0960-9822
| volume = 17
| issue = 12
| pages = 1038–1043
| last = Whiten
| first = Andrew
 |author2=Antoine Spiteri |author3=Victoria Horner |author4=Kristin E. Bonnie |author5=Susan P. Lambeth |author6=Steven J. Schapiro |author7=Frans B.M. de Waal
| title = Transmission of Multiple Traditions within and between Chimpanzee Groups
| journal = Current Biology
| year = 2007
| pmid=17555968
| s2cid = 1236151
| doi-access = free
| bibcode = 2007CBio...17.1038W
}}</ref>

===Musicology and ethnomusicology===
{{listen
|filename=Omar Rabbi Elozor.ogg
|title=Amar Rabbi Elazar
|description=A traditional setting of the last passage of the first tractate, [[Berakhot (Talmud)|Berakhot]] of the [[Oral Torah]], which describes how scholars of the Talmud create peace in the world. Performed by [[Hazzan|Cantor]] Meyer Kanewsky in 1919 for [[Edison Records]].
}}
In the field of [[musicology]] and [[ethnomusicology]] tradition refers to the belief systems, repertoire, techniques, style and culture that is passed down through subsequent generations. Tradition in music suggests a historical context with which one can perceive distinguishable patterns. Along with a sense of history, traditions have a fluidity that cause them to evolve and adapt over time.
While both musicology and ethnomusicology are defined by being 'the scholarly study of music'<ref>{{cite web|last=Duckles|first=Vincent|title=Musicology.|url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/46710pg1|work=Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online|access-date=6 October 2011}}</ref> they differ in their methodology and subject of research. 'Tradition, or traditions, can be presented as a context in which to study the work of a specific composer or as a part of a wide-ranging historical perspective.'<ref>{{cite book
| title     = Musicology The Key Concepts
| first     = David Beard
| last      = Kenneth Gloag
| publisher = Routledge
| year      = 2005
}}</ref>

===Sociology===
The concept of tradition, in early sociological research (around the turn of the 19th and 20th century), referred to that of the [[traditional society]], as contrasted by the more modern [[industrial society]].<ref name=slang>{{cite book|doi=10.1016/B0-08-043076-7/02028-3|chapter=Traditions: Social|title=International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences|pages=15829–15833|year=2001|last1=Langlois|first1=S.|isbn=978-0080430768}}</ref> This approach was most notably portrayed in [[Max Weber]]'s concepts of [[traditional authority]] and modern [[rational-legal authority]].<ref name=slang/> In more modern works, One hundred years later, sociology sees tradition as a [[Social constructionism|social construct]] used to contrast past with the present and as a form of [[rationality]] used to justify certain course of action.<ref name=slang/>

Traditional society is characterized by lack of distinction between family and business, [[division of labor]] influenced primarily by age, gender, and status, high position of custom in the system of values, self-sufficiency, preference to saving and accumulation of capital instead of productive investment, relative [[autarky]].<ref name=slang/> Early theories positing the simple, [[unilineal evolution]] of societies from traditional to industrial model are now seen as too simplistic.<ref name=slang/>

In 1981, Edward Shils in his book ''Tradition'' put forward a definition of tradition that became universally accepted.<ref name=slang/> According to Shils, tradition is anything which is transmitted or handed down from the past to the present.<ref name=slang/>

Another important sociological aspect of tradition is the one that relates to rationality. It is also related to the works of Max Weber (see [[Wertrational|theories of rationality]]), and were popularized and redefined in 1992 by [[Raymond Boudon]] in his book ''Action''.<ref name=slang/> In this context tradition refers to the mode of thinking and action justified as "it has always been that way".<ref name=slang/> This line of reasoning forms the basis of the logical flaw of the [[appeal to tradition]] (or ''argumentum ad antiquitatem''),<ref>{{cite web|author=Texas University |title=Is-Ought fallacy |url=http://www.txstate.edu/philosophy/fallacies/isought.htm |work=Fallacies Definitions |publisher=Texas State University Department of Philosophy |access-date=2008-02-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060826004350/http://www.txstate.edu/philosophy/fallacies/isought.htm |archive-date=26 August 2006 }}</ref> which takes the form "this is right because we've always done it this way."<ref>{{cite book
| title     = Argumentation and Debating
| first     = William
| last      = Trufant
| publisher = Houghton Mifflin company
| year      = 1917
| id        = Digitized 9 May 2007
}}</ref> In most cases such an appeal can be refuted on the grounds that the "tradition" being advocated may no longer be desirable, or, indeed, may never have been despite its previous popularity.

===Philosophy===
{{further|Tradition (perennialism)}}
The idea of tradition is important in philosophy. Twentieth century philosophy is often divided between an 'analytic' tradition, dominant in Anglophone and Scandinavian countries, and a 'continental' tradition, dominant in German and Romance speaking Europe. Increasingly central to continental philosophy is the project of deconstructing what its proponents, following [[Martin Heidegger]], call 'the tradition', which began with [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]]. In contrast, some continental philosophers - most notably, [[Hans-Georg Gadamer]] - have attempted to rehabilitate the tradition of [[Aristotelianism]]. This move has been replicated within analytic philosophy by [[Alasdair MacIntyre]]. However, MacIntyre has himself deconstructed the idea of 'the tradition', instead posing [[Aristotelianism]] as one philosophical tradition in rivalry with others.