Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 19 Historical influence should not be confused with direct textual transmission. The doctrines associated with major thinkers seldom reach later generations solely through the original texts. More often they are transmitted through successive generations of interpretation, teaching, commentary, translation, adaptation, and institutional practice. As a result, theContinue reading “Excursus 071 – On Intellectual Traditions as Evolving Populations”
Author Archives: Hossein Jorjani
Excursus 070 – On the Distinction Between Epistemological and Ontological Claims
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 19 Discussions of scientific inquiry often emphasize that knowledge is acquired, interpreted, and communicated by human beings. This is an epistemological claim: all knowledge is produced within particular historical, linguistic, and social contexts. It concerns how human beings come to know the world. Such claims should notContinue reading “Excursus 070 – On the Distinction Between Epistemological and Ontological Claims”
Excursus 068 – On the Original Meaning of “Dialectic”
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””
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”
