Excursus 078 – On What Makes a Discipline Scientific?

Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 19 The value of an intellectual discipline should not be confused with its scientific status. Philosophy, history, literature, art, and political thought have produced some of humanity’s most profound achievements without thereby becoming sciences. The question is therefore not whether every discipline ought to become scientific, butContinue reading “Excursus 078 – On What Makes a Discipline Scientific?”

Excursus 074 – On the Uneven Distribution of Human Knowledge

Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 19 Knowledge is neither complete nor uniformly incomplete. Human understanding is distributed unevenly across different domains of reality. Some phenomena are understood with considerable precision and reliability, whereas others remain only partially understood or are presently beyond our investigative reach. This unevenness reflects the fact that theContinue reading “Excursus 074 – On the Uneven Distribution of Human Knowledge”

Excursus 073 – On Four Sources of Epistemic Incompleteness

Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 19 Human knowledge is often described as provisional or incomplete. This incompleteness, however, does not arise from a single cause. At least four independent mechanisms may prevent knowledge from attaining complete correspondence with reality. Two of these arise from the nature of reality itself. First, reality mayContinue reading “Excursus 073 – On Four Sources of Epistemic Incompleteness”

Excursus 072 – On Degrees of Objectivity

Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 19 The recognition that complete objectivity may be unattainable should not lead to the conclusion that all disciplines possess the same degree of objectivity. The extent to which the observer influences the observed varies considerably across domains of inquiry. In many areas of the natural sciences, theContinue reading “Excursus 072 – On Degrees of Objectivity”

Excursus 030 – On the Changing Landscape of Scientific Inquiry

Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 In Aphorism I:61 of the Novum Organum (1620), Bacon argues that disagreements with earlier philosophers concern not the destination—truth itself—but the path by which it is reached. He illustrates this by observing that a lame man who follows the correct road will eventually outstrip a runnerContinue reading “Excursus 030 – On the Changing Landscape of Scientific Inquiry”

Excursus 023 – On the Significance of The “Man is the measure of all things.”

Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Human perception of even the most apparently straightforward phenomena—such as color—varies significantly across individuals. Differences in sensory physiology, neural processing, developmental history, and learned categories mean that two people may both call an object “green” while experiencing qualitatively distinct sensations. Similar divergences appear in brightness perception,Continue reading “Excursus 023 – On the Significance of The “Man is the measure of all things.””