Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 08 – 09 The English words science and scientific appear so familiar that a contemporary reader may assume their meanings remain approximately constant whenever they occur in an older philosophical or sociological text. This assumption is unsafe. Words translated as science have belonged to linguistic and intellectual settings inContinue reading “Excursus 136 – Science, Wissenschaft, and the Changing Boundaries of Knowledge”
Tag Archives: Hegel
Excursus 117 – On Dialectic as Method and as Ontology
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 23 Dialectic has not always meant the same thing. In its classical Greek form, particularly in the Socratic and Platonic traditions, dialectic was primarily an epistemological method. Through questioning, comparison, and the examination of opposing viewpoints, it served to clarify concepts, expose hidden assumptions, and test theContinue reading “Excursus 117 – On Dialectic as Method and as Ontology”
Excursus 116 – On the Origin of Marx’s Concept of Alienation
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 23 Marx did not invent the concept of alienation (Entfremdung). Rather, he inherited it through the German philosophical tradition and fundamentally transformed its meaning. The immediate philosophical source was Hegel, for whom alienation (Entäußerung or Entfremdung) denoted the externalization of Spirit. In Hegel’s system, Spirit objectifies itselfContinue reading “Excursus 116 – On the Origin of Marx’s Concept of Alienation”
Excursus 115 – On Reading Earlier Philosophers Through Later Traditions
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 08 Throughout the history of ideas, later intellectual traditions have frequently interpreted earlier thinkers through conceptual frameworks that arose only afterwards. Such reinterpretations may illuminate genuine continuities, but they may also obscure important differences by attributing to earlier authors concepts, intentions, or doctrines that belong primarily toContinue reading “Excursus 115 – On Reading Earlier Philosophers Through Later Traditions”
Excursus 113 – On Illustrative and Demonstrative Examples
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 22 Hegel was one of the most original and influential philosophers in the history of Western thought. His intellectual ambition was extraordinary, and many of his ideas stimulated generations of philosophers, including some of his severest critics. Yet originality alone does not guarantee methodological precision. While readingContinue reading “Excursus 113 – On Illustrative and Demonstrative Examples”
Excursus 111 – On Ultimate Unifying Principles
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 08 One of the recurring features of the history of philosophy is the search for an ultimate principle capable of unifying the diversity of reality. Although different philosophical systems identify this principle in different ways, many assign to it a comparable structural role: it serves as theContinue reading “Excursus 111 – On Ultimate Unifying Principles”
Excursus 088 – On the Historical Functions of Doubt
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 19 Philosophical doubt has never constituted a single method or pursued a single objective. Although many traditions have employed questioning, criticism, and the exposure of contradictions, they have done so for fundamentally different purposes. The history of dialectic is therefore also a history of changing conceptions ofContinue reading “Excursus 088 – On the Historical Functions of Doubt”
Excursus 087 – On Three Historical Functions of Dialectic
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 19 Histories of dialectic usually distinguish among philosophers, schools, or historical periods. Equally important, however, is the function that dialectic serves within different intellectual traditions. The same term has been employed for fundamentally different purposes, and these differences are not always made explicit. Three broad historical functionsContinue reading “Excursus 087 – On Three Historical Functions of Dialectic”
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 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”
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