Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 14 The modern reader often associates the word dialectic with contradiction, conflict, and negation, largely under the influence of Hegel and the later Marxist tradition. Etymologically, however, the term points in a much broader direction. The Greek dialektikē (διαλεκτική) derives from the verb dialegesthai (διαλέγεσθαι), meaning “toContinue reading “Excursus 068 – On the Original Meaning of “Dialectic””
Author Archives: Hossein Jorjani
Excursus 067 – On Conflict and Reciprocity as Forms of Movement
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 14 Throughout the history of dialectical thought, conflict has often been treated as its defining characteristic. From Plato through Kant, Fichte, Hegel, and Marx, the vocabulary of dialectic increasingly came to revolve around opposition, negation, contradiction, and struggle. By the nineteenth century, conflict was frequently regarded notContinue reading “Excursus 067 – On Conflict and Reciprocity as Forms of Movement”
Excursus 066 – On the Four Epistemic Modes of Modern Science
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 Since the Scientific Revolution, observation and experiment have traditionally been regarded as the two principal sources of scientific knowledge. Observation acquires data from naturally occurring phenomena without deliberate intervention, whereas experiment generates data by systematically manipulating conditions to test specific hypotheses. These two modes formed theContinue reading “Excursus 066 – On the Four Epistemic Modes of Modern Science”
Excursus 065 – On the Ripley Principle: The Evolution of Ideas
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 Scientific and philosophical ideas rarely emerge in their final form. Their first appearance is often incomplete, imprecise, or even misleading. Concepts are proposed, criticized, revised, abandoned, reformulated, and sometimes rediscovered under new names. What later generations recognize as a successful theory is frequently the result ofContinue reading “Excursus 065 – On the Ripley Principle: The Evolution of Ideas”
Excursus 064 – On Viewing the Same Problem from Different Perspectives
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 Philosophical disagreements often appear deeper than they really are because different thinkers approach the same underlying problem from different conceptual perspectives. Like observers standing on opposite sides of the same mountain, they describe what they see in different languages, emphasize different features, and sometimes fail toContinue reading “Excursus 064 – On Viewing the Same Problem from Different Perspectives”
Excursus 063 – On Knowledge and Power
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 The relationship between knowledge and power has long occupied philosophers, political theorists, and historians of science. Yet the two concepts are easily conflated. Knowledge may confer power by enlarging the range of possible actions, but it is not itself a form of political domination. To distinguishContinue reading “Excursus 063 – On Knowledge and Power”
Excursus 062 – On Science, Technology, and the Uses of Knowledge
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 Discussions concerning science often fail to distinguish between scientific knowledge and its practical applications. The distinction is fundamental. Science seeks to understand, explain, and predict natural phenomena. Technology applies such knowledge to achieve practical ends. Although the two are closely related and frequently develop together, theyContinue reading “Excursus 062 – On Science, Technology, and the Uses of Knowledge”
Excursus 061 – On Theory-Ladenness and Scientific Objectivity
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 During the twentieth century, philosophers of science increasingly emphasized that observation is theory-laden. Measurements, classifications, and experimental observations do not arise independently of prior concepts, assumptions, instruments, or methods of interpretation. Every observation presupposes some theoretical framework within which it acquires meaning. This recognition represented anContinue reading “Excursus 061 – On Theory-Ladenness and Scientific Objectivity”
Excursus 060 – On the Problem of Induction after Hume
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 David Hume’s critique of induction is widely regarded as one of the decisive turning points in the philosophy of science. Hume did not deny that human beings routinely generalize from experience, nor did he question the practical success of scientific prediction. His challenge was more fundamental:Continue reading “Excursus 060 – On the Problem of Induction after Hume”
Excursus 059 – On Change in the Space of Possibilities
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 Gurvitch dismisses Hegel’s dialectic as “a carefully disguised dance in place,” arguing that all movement ultimately returns to the Absolute and therefore produces no genuine novelty. The present observation accepts Gurvitch’s criticism of Hegel’s teleological conception of history. It questions only the generality of the metaphorContinue reading “Excursus 059 – On Change in the Space of Possibilities”
Hossein Jorjani 