Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 19 Scientific inference is commonly discussed in terms of interpolation and extrapolation. Yet many important forms of modern scientific reasoning belong to neither category. They are better understood as instances of reconstruction. Interpolation estimates unknown values that lie within an observed domain. Extrapolation extends established relationships beyondContinue reading “Excursus 091 – On Reconstruction as a Form of Scientific Inference”
Tag Archives: inference
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 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 041 – The Productive Role of Imperfect Data
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Some historians of science have suggested that the imperfections of Galileo’s telescopes, rather than hindering discovery, were in fact instrumental to his success. The blurred and edge-distorted images forced him to interpret what he saw conceptually, using geometry and analogy rather than photographic realism. Because theContinue reading “Excursus 041 – The Productive Role of Imperfect Data”
Excursus 038 – On AI as External Cognitive Infrastructure
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 AI systems, now and in the future, may function as components of an external cognitive infrastructure for scientific inquiry. Their potential roles include: (1) storing and retrieving data as an augmented external memory; (2) structuring and organizing recorded experience, functioning as an inference machine that extractsContinue reading “Excursus 038 – On AI as External Cognitive Infrastructure”
Excursus 031 – On Extrapolation
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 In Aphorism I:70 of the Novum Organum (1620), Bacon warns that the evidential force of an experiment should remain “rooted in the experiment itself” unless its conclusions are transferred to other cases by a proper and orderly method. This caution anticipates what may be called extrapolationContinue reading “Excursus 031 – On Extrapolation”
Hossein Jorjani 