Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 15 Darwin’s historical achievement was to synthesize evidence from several branches of biology into a coherent theory of evolution by common descent. This historical fact, however, should not be confused with an epistemological necessity. A scientific theory may be said to be Darwin-independent if its principal conceptualContinue reading “Excursus 114 – On Darwin-independent Reconstruction of Evolution”
Tag Archives: evolution
Excursus 106 – Platonic and Aristotelian Essentialism in the Light of Continuous Variation
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 20 Modern discussions of essentialism often blur an important distinction between Plato and Aristotle. Although both philosophers are commonly described as essentialists, they understood the location and nature of essences in fundamentally different ways. For Plato, the essence of a thing does not belong to the individualContinue reading “Excursus 106 – Platonic and Aristotelian Essentialism in the Light of Continuous Variation”
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”
Excursus 058 – On the Ecology of Inference
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 It is often assumed that induction, deduction, Bayesian inference, and inference to the best explanation (IBE) are competing accounts of scientific reasoning. An alternative perspective is that they represent complementary modes of inference whose relative usefulness depends upon the quantity, organization, and reliability of the availableContinue reading “Excursus 058 – On the Ecology of Inference”
Excursus 050 – On Scientific Growth
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 The diversification of scientific disciplines may profitably be compared, with appropriate caution, to the diversification of biological species. The analogy is structural rather than mechanistic. Scientific disciplines do not reproduce biologically, yet they undergo recognizable processes of divergence, partial isolation, specialization, hybridization, and, occasionally, convergence. TheContinue reading “Excursus 050 – On Scientific Growth”
Excursus 049 – On Peripheral Innovation
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 Biological evolution and intellectual history exhibit a striking structural parallel. In evolutionary biology, new species rarely arise within the large, stable center of a population, where continual interbreeding tends to preserve existing forms. Instead, significant evolutionary divergence often begins in small, geographically or reproductively isolated populationsContinue reading “Excursus 049 – On Peripheral Innovation”
Excursus 046 – On Natura Non Facit Saltus
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 The maxim natura non facit saltus (“nature makes no leaps”) has long served both as a methodological principle and as an ontological hypothesis. Methodologically, it directs inquiry toward identifying intermediate stages and causal connections rather than accepting apparent discontinuities as ultimate explanations. Ontologically, it expresses theContinue reading “Excursus 046 – On Natura Non Facit Saltus”
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 028 – On Individual Variations
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Bacon, like many early modern thinkers, treated the human intellect as though its fundamental tendencies were largely uniform across individuals. He gave little attention to variation among persons or cultures, nor did he consider that cognitive dispositions might differ as a consequence of genetic differences, education,Continue reading “Excursus 028 – On Individual Variations”
Excursus 027 – On Teleology
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 In Aristotle’s philosophy, the final cause (causa finalis) referred to the end, purpose, or goal for which a thing existed. Together with the material, formal, and efficient causes, it formed one of the four fundamental modes of explanation in Aristotelian natural philosophy. Francis Bacon rejected theContinue reading “Excursus 027 – On Teleology”
Hossein Jorjani 