Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 07 Readers familiar with both the history of philosophy and the history of science often notice a striking difference in the way these disciplines are commonly presented. Histories of philosophy frequently appear as continuous conversations extending across centuries. Plato proposes an idea; Aristotle develops or criticizes it;Continue reading “Excursus 107 – Continuity, Rupture, and Conflict in the History of Ideas”
Tag Archives: history of ideas
Excursus 071 – On Intellectual Traditions as Evolving Populations
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”
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 052 – On the Retrospective Expansion of Historical Concepts
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 18 Concepts are often coined to describe particular historical forms. As their explanatory success increases, they tend to expand retrospectively until they encompass earlier phenomena sharing only some of the defining characteristics of the original concept. Such expansion may be analytically useful, provided it is recognized asContinue reading “Excursus 052 – On the Retrospective Expansion of Historical Concepts”
Excursus 034 – On the Use of Everyday Examples
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 The recurrence of examples involving bread, wine, and beer in writers as different as Bacon and Adam Smith is not accidental. In early-modern Europe, these products represented the most basic and universally recognized outcomes of human skill: grain-processing (bread, beer) and fermentation (wine, beer). For Bacon,Continue reading “Excursus 034 – On the Use of Everyday Examples”
Excursus 029 – On the Stability of Conceptual Definitions
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 The persistence of a philosophical or scientific term does not guarantee the stability of the concept it denotes. Throughout the history of ideas, words have often remained unchanged while their meanings, explanatory functions, and theoretical contexts have undergone profound transformation. Bacon’s own treatment of Form illustratesContinue reading “Excursus 029 – On the Stability of Conceptual Definitions”
Excursus 022 – On the History of Systematic Cognitive Bias
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Although Roger Bacon’s offendicula provided an earlier catalogue of obstacles to knowledge, Francis Bacon’s doctrine of the idola represented a much broader and more systematic theory of cognitive error. His Idola Tribus, for instance, echoed ancient reflections—from Stoic and Epicurean traditions—that universal human nature distorted perception,Continue reading “Excursus 022 – On the History of Systematic Cognitive Bias”
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”
Hossein Jorjani 