Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 07 – 20 Every scientific inquiry begins with selection. No researcher can investigate every problem, read every publication, examine every hypothesis, or pursue every promising idea. Scientific work is therefore conducted under conditions of scarcity: time, attention, funding, personnel, and institutional resources are all limited. Selection should not beContinue reading “Excursus 096 – On Selection in Scientific Inquiry”
Tag Archives: scientific inquiry
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 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 037 – On Hope and Despair in Scientific Inquiry
Hossein Jorjani First publication: 2026 – 06 – 30 Bacon’s warning against the “supposition of impossibility” speaks directly to a recurring problem in scientific inquiry: the tendency to dismiss certain questions or lines of investigation as inherently unanswerable before they have been adequately explored. His remedy was not unqualified optimism but what he called “trueContinue reading “Excursus 037 – On Hope and Despair in Scientific Inquiry”
Hossein Jorjani 