Charting the skeptopathy - skepticism continuum: A constructive aid in the interests of consistent and reliable scientific activity
We begin this paper by attempting to define what skepticism is. We also attempt to define other related and allied concepts such as skeptopathy, pathological skepticism, and pseudo-skepticism, and compare and contrast all these different concepts. We also present the various thoughts and opinions of different thinkers on all these issues, and also attempt to explain how thoughts related to these issues evolved through the ages. We therefore begin right from the Ancient Greeks, on to Ancient R...
Religion in the Twenty-first century and beyond: A Social sciences perspective
The term "Religion" refers to a wide range of social-cultural systems, which include beliefs, morals, ethics, religious practices, thought worlds, worldviews, holy texts and scriptures, sanctified holy places, and institutions that typically relate to the general belief in a God or a supernatural entity. Religion has been known in a wide variety of geographical contexts and situations, and attested since very early times; as a matter of fact, even before the dawn of human civilization. As a m...
Rebooting Pedagogy and Education systems for the Twenty-first Century: Why we need course-corrections immediately 2
Education is the fundamental pillar upon which any human civilization rests. As a matter of fact, no civilization in any meaningful form or degree has been possible in human history that has not been built on the bulwark and edifice of education. While literacy may have been limited to the privileged few in early ancient civilizations, it was these privileged few who controlled the masses and set the tempo for meaningful progress in such civilizations; educational systems have proven to be th...
Rebooting Pedagogy and Education systems for the Twenty-first Century: Why we need course-corrections immediately
Education is the fundamental pillar upon which any human civilization rests. As a matter of fact, no civilization in any meaningful form or degree has been possible in human history that has not been built on the bulwark and edifice of education. While literacy may have been limited to the privileged few in early ancient civilizations, it was these privileged few who controlled the masses and set the tempo for meaningful progress in such civilizations; educational systems have proven to be th...
Rethinking Journal classification: Rethinking Journal classification in the twenty-first century in the interests of a higher quantum of scientific output
In this paper, we challenge Jeffrey Beall’s still dominant in the psyche approach to journal classification and some other ill-conceived approaches to journal classification, and attempt to show why such reductionist views are harmful to the healthy growth of science. While scientific fraud in any form must be horsewhipped and must not be exonerated or absolved at any cost and under any circumstances, journal classification and all other attendant issues and factors impacting and affecting ...
Orchestrating “Irreducible simplicity” in science and science communication: Positioning “irreducible simplicity” as a vital guiding principle for effective and bona fide science
This paper, which is perhaps our umpteenth and umptieth on scientific method and scientific methodology, proposes, discusses and lays bare the canon of what we propose to call “irreducible simplicity”. We believe and hypothesize that this approach would encompass, and play a natural, pivotal and a vital role in all aspects and facets of scientific activity from the cradle to the grave such as grounds-up hypothesis conceptualization, hypothesis building, detailed hypothesis specification, ...
Advancing the use of “Continuous zero-based reassessment of assumptions, hypotheses and methods”: A vital tool and technique in the interests of better science
The approach conceptualized, described and advocated in this paper may appear to be highly conventional and non-radical at the outset and at a preliminary or a cursory glance, but it has plenty of substance to offer to the healthy pursuit of rigour, dispassionate objectivity, and wholesome and balanced scientific activity. We do not aim or propose to set the cat among the pigeons or create an unwarranted flutter that could potentially rattle and alienate scholars, but instead create in the me...
Forging “Methodological inductivism” in the interests of better science: Encouraging Methodological inductivism as a harbinger of meaningful change in different kinds of scientific endeavour
We begin this paper by defining various pertinent and relevant terms such as the term inductivism in science, hypothetico-deductivism, and subsequently also provide the definitions of various other terms such as a methodology which naturally also include and encompass terms such as research and scientific methodology, scientific methods, scientific techniques, scientific processes and scientific procedures; we then proceed to lay down the bare essentials of what we would like to call “Metho...
Instituting “Institutional coherentism” as a prerequisite for high-quality science: Another crucial step for winning the battle for consistent high-quality science
Abstract This paper is proposed because even though coherentism and internal and external validity are often rigorously pursued in the real-world by researchers and many eminent scientists of repute, the idea of “institutional coherentism” the way we define and understand it in this paper, rarely is. The approach described in this paper probably does not exist in toto or unqualifiedly elsewhere , hence the justification and the basis for this paper. We also provide examples to show why ...
Baking Innovative and Creative Techniques into Scientific Method
The core objective of this paper is to investigate and propose methods and means through which various classes of innovative and creative thinking techniques which include both existing techniques in popular current usage, and those yet to be conceptualized and theorized can be baked into scientific method both integrally and intrinsically, and in a natural and a harmonious fashion. This we believe can lead to faster and more comprehensive scientific progress across disciplines and geographie...
Promoting science activism for the twenty-first century and beyond: Positioning science activism to promote course corrections in science and to lead to higher scientific output across societ
We begin this paper by providing a brief definition of activism, carrying out a brief overview of activism through the ages, and also present a review of the different types of activism as carried out in different geographies and segments of society. We also state why activism is still sorely lacking in various fields in the sciences to promote the cause of the sciences, and explain why we need to step up the ante, and promote science activism which can also be known as scientific activism, i...
Reducing the ‘latency period’ for the acceptance of new scientific ideas: Positioning the ‘latency period’ for the acceptance of scientific ideas as an indicator of scientific maturity
There is often an inordinate time span from the time a new idea is gestated till it is widely accepted in scientific and in popular circles, with wide variations commonly observed across geographies and disciplines. This elapsed time may be referred to as the ‘latency period’ for the acceptance, or even a structured and a justified rejection, as the case may be, of new or novel ideas. This can be observed in most societies around the world, unfortunately even in more advanced ones. There ...
Empowering 'Linguistic have-nots’: Empowering 'Linguistic have-nots’ in the interests of faster economic, social and cultural progress and development across cultures and societies
This paper seeks to further the aims and goals of our ‘Globalization of science” movement at least indirectly, if not directly. This is sought to be achieved by empowering ‘linguistic have-nots’ so that their economic performance can be improved, and their social and cultural development can be aided. We begin this paper with an overview of the field of linguistics, milestones in its development, and its various branches and areas of specialization. We also recapitulate theories on th...
Attempting Diachronic extensions of symbiotic approaches to socio-cultural change: Developing techniques to assess socio-cultural changes over a period in time
This paper expands our two already published papers on socio-cultural change in diachronic ways. Our proposed approach to socio-cultural change was called the “Proactive-interactive-symbiotic approach to long-term cultural change”, also known as the “Symbiotic School of socio-cultural change” in short. These two papers were published by us in the years 2017 and 2018 respectively, and the concepts and the ideals propounded therein, we referred to multiple times in several of our downst...
Quashing racism: Presenting the ‘Comprehensive socio-cultural persecution complex’ as a logical extension and a practical application of the Certainty uncertainty principle for the soci
We begin this paper by attempting to define the highly nebulous, ambiguous and misleading concept of race, and review current literature to show that the term ‘race’ is a fundamentally a highly antiquated and flawed concept. We also revisit various other contemporary theories on human classification including anthropometric and genetic ones. We also summarize the principles, concepts and tenets of our paper of the ‘Certainty uncertainty principle’ for the social sciences which was pub...
