Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 The phenomenon of conceptual scaffolding may be clarified by analogy with coordinate transformations in linear algebra. When moving from one coordinate system to another, a point or vector is represented differently according to the basis in use. To understand the new representation, one must initially mapContinue reading “Excursus 020 – On Communication across Paradigms”
Author Archives: Hossein Jorjani
Excursus 019 – On Intellectual Inheritance, Conceptual Anagenesis, and the Three-Generation Heuristic
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Ideas are transmitted through intellectual lineages in a manner that resembles biological inheritance. A concept may pass from one thinker to another, retaining its name while gradually altering its function, scope, and internal meaning. In studying the history of ideas, one must therefore distinguish between verbalContinue reading “Excursus 019 – On Intellectual Inheritance, Conceptual Anagenesis, and the Three-Generation Heuristic”
Excursus 018 – On Epistemology and Cognitive Science
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Bacon’s taxonomy of idola was an early attempt to systematize the sources of error in human thought. While his classification emphasized cultural, linguistic, and experiential distortions, modern cognitive science reveals an additional biological dimension to these sources of error. Perceptual and cognitive processes are constrained byContinue reading “Excursus 018 – On Epistemology and Cognitive Science”
Excursus 017 – On Intellectual Autonomy and Heteronomy
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Bacon’s critique of received doctrine reflected a broader philosophical distinction between autonomy and heteronomy. An autonomous intellect forms its judgments—moral, epistemic, or conceptual—through independent engagement with reason and experience. A heteronomous intellect, by contrast, defers to external authorities or inherited frameworks. Bacon considered such heteronomy especiallyContinue reading “Excursus 017 – On Intellectual Autonomy and Heteronomy”
Excursus 016 – On the Progression of Science
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 It may be argued that, alongside the two methodological paths described by Bacon, there exists a third path that begins from experience but allows for the early projection of broad hypotheses, which then guide the search for intermediate propositions and empirical tests. These high-level generalizations guideContinue reading “Excursus 016 – On the Progression of Science”
Excursus 015 – On Mathematical Analysis and in silico Experiments
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Bacon’s methodological framework assumed the universal applicability of experimentation, an assumption that modern science has found only partly sustainable. In many domains— including astronomy, evolutionary biology, cosmology, and historical human development —direct experimental manipulation of phenomena is not feasible, whether for practical or ethical reasons. InContinue reading “Excursus 015 – On Mathematical Analysis and in silico Experiments”
Excursus 014 – On Dualism
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 The appearance of paired opposites in Bacon’s examples (“hot/cold,” “white/black”) should not be taken as evidence of a dualistic worldview. These pairs were part of the inherited scientific and rhetorical vocabulary of his time—convenient, vivid, and pedagogically familiar—but not philosophically binding. Bacon’s underlying physics was continuist,Continue reading “Excursus 014 – On Dualism”
Excursus 013 – On the Typology of Theoretical Structure: Simplicus vs. Compositum
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Bacon’s use of species infimae extends beyond biological kinds to encompass immediate sensory qualities. This broader usage invites a more general analysis of theoretical structure. However, because his use of the term extended beyond living kinds to include immediate sensory qualities, it invites a broader conceptualContinue reading “Excursus 013 – On the Typology of Theoretical Structure: Simplicus vs. Compositum”
Excursus 012 – On Transmutability
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 The alchemists’ belief in the fixed “kinds” of metals drew upon the Platonic–Aristotelian tradition of essential forms, according to which each natural substance possessed a defining essence that determined its identity. The repeated failure to transmute one metal into another was taken by many as confirmationContinue reading “Excursus 012 – On Transmutability”
Excursus 011 – On the Concept of Species
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 In Aristotelian logic, the species infimae (“lowest species”) occupied the final level of the genus–species hierarchy—the most specific universals that could still apply to more than one individual. They marked the boundary between universal and particular, serving as the lowest kinds that could figure in scientificContinue reading “Excursus 011 – On the Concept of Species”
