Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 AI systems, now and in the future, may function as components of an external cognitive infrastructure for scientific inquiry. Their potential roles include: (1) storing and retrieving data as an augmented external memory; (2) structuring and organizing recorded experience, functioning as an inference machine that extractsContinue reading “Excursus 038 – On AI as External Cognitive Infrastructure”
Author Archives: Hossein Jorjani
Excursus 037 – On Hope and Despair in Scientific Inquiry
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Bacon’s warning against the “supposition of impossibility” speaks directly to a recurring problem in scientific inquiry: the tendency to dismiss certain questions or lines of investigation as inherently unanswerable before they have been adequately explored. His remedy was not unqualified optimism but what he called “trueContinue reading “Excursus 037 – On Hope and Despair in Scientific Inquiry”
Excursus 036 – On Scriptures and Science
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 In modern science, references to God or Scripture are absent from scientific discourse. This reflects the principle of methodological naturalism, in which science explains phenomena solely in terms of natural causes and observable evidence. While individual scientists may hold personal religious beliefs, such beliefs are notContinue reading “Excursus 036 – On Scriptures and Science”
Excursus 035 – On the Balance Between Coherence and Variation
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 In evolutionary genetics, the capacity of populations to adapt (their evolvability) is generally thought to depend on maintaining sufficient genetic variation. Too little variation may lead to rigidity and reduced adaptability, whereas excessive divergence may eventually weaken the coherence of the population and contribute to subdivisionContinue reading “Excursus 035 – On the Balance Between Coherence and Variation”
Excursus 034 – On the Use of Everyday Examples
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 The recurrence of examples involving bread, wine, and beer in writers as different as Bacon and Adam Smith is not accidental. In early-modern Europe, these products represented the most basic and universally recognized outcomes of human skill: grain-processing (bread, beer) and fermentation (wine, beer). For Bacon,Continue reading “Excursus 034 – On the Use of Everyday Examples”
Excursus 033 – On the Reciprocal Development of Philosophy and Science
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 In Aphorism I:80 of the Novum Organum (1620), Bacon argues that the sciences lose depth and vitality when they become detached from natural philosophy, which he regarded as their common source. The following remarks do not attempt to restate Bacon’s hierarchical conception. Rather, they propose aContinue reading “Excursus 033 – On the Reciprocal Development of Philosophy and Science”
Excursus 032 – Theoretical Splendour and Empirical Responsibility
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Bacon’s use of the remark that the Greeks were “always children” was directed against philosophies that excelled in eloquence, subtlety, and conceptual brilliance, yet failed to yield productive knowledge. His criticism was not aimed at theory as such, nor at intellectual refinement, but at the separationContinue reading “Excursus 032 – Theoretical Splendour and Empirical Responsibility”
Excursus 031 – On Extrapolation
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 In Aphorism I:70 of the Novum Organum (1620), Bacon warns that the evidential force of an experiment should remain “rooted in the experiment itself” unless its conclusions are transferred to other cases by a proper and orderly method. This caution anticipates what may be called extrapolationContinue reading “Excursus 031 – On Extrapolation”
Excursus 030 – On the Changing Landscape of Scientific Inquiry
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 In Aphorism I:61 of the Novum Organum (1620), Bacon argues that disagreements with earlier philosophers concern not the destination—truth itself—but the path by which it is reached. He illustrates this by observing that a lame man who follows the correct road will eventually outstrip a runnerContinue reading “Excursus 030 – On the Changing Landscape of Scientific Inquiry”
Excursus 029 – On the Stability of Conceptual Definitions
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 The persistence of a philosophical or scientific term does not guarantee the stability of the concept it denotes. Throughout the history of ideas, words have often remained unchanged while their meanings, explanatory functions, and theoretical contexts have undergone profound transformation. Bacon’s own treatment of Form illustratesContinue reading “Excursus 029 – On the Stability of Conceptual Definitions”
Hossein Jorjani 