Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 16 Discussions of work commonly refer to institutionally organized human productive activity rather than to productive activity in the broader biological sense. This distinction is easily overlooked, leading social institutions to be credited—or blamed—for conditions that arise from more fundamental biological constraints. The necessity of productive activityContinue reading “Excursus 045 – On the Biological and Institutional Senses of Work”
Tag Archives: methodology
Excursus 042 – On Structural and Institutional Levels of Explanation
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 In discussions of social, economic, and political questions, structural constraints and institutional constraints are often treated as though they were identical. As a result, the origin of a phenomenon is frequently confused with the appropriate means of addressing it. Human reproduction provides a straightforward example. Pregnancy,Continue reading “Excursus 042 – On Structural and Institutional Levels of Explanation”
Excursus 039 – On Bacon’s Asymmetry of Induction and Deduction
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Bacon’s principal target of criticism in Novum Organum I:30 was the upward movement from particulars to general propositions. He argued that the traditional method, which he termed inductio vulgaris (“vulgar induction”), merely gathered instances, leapt prematurely to universal statements, and then relied on syllogistic demonstration toContinue reading “Excursus 039 – On Bacon’s Asymmetry of Induction and Deduction”
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 025 – On Epistemological Distortion
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 The epistemological distortion identified by Bacon in Aphorism I:45 of the Novum Organum (1620)—the tendency of the human mind to impose order and correspondence where none existed—has numerous modern analogues. In theoretical physics, critics have argued that some highly mathematical theories risk allowing formal elegance andContinue reading “Excursus 025 – On Epistemological Distortion”
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”
Excursus 013 – On the Typology of Theoretical Structure: Simplicus vs. Compositum
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Bacon’s use of species infimae extends beyond biological kinds to encompass immediate sensory qualities. This broader usage invites a more general analysis of theoretical structure. However, because his use of the term extended beyond living kinds to include immediate sensory qualities, it invites a broader conceptualContinue reading “Excursus 013 – On the Typology of Theoretical Structure: Simplicus vs. Compositum”
Excursus 003 – Three Historical Roles of Dialectic
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Discussions of the history of dialectic often distinguish between different philosophers but less frequently between the fundamentally different roles that dialectic has played throughout intellectual history. A useful distinction may be drawn between three broad conceptions. The earliest conception, associated primarily with Socrates and much ofContinue reading “Excursus 003 – Three Historical Roles of Dialectic”
Hossein Jorjani 