Building Upon “Foundationalism” to Achieve the Objectives of Contemporary Science: How this can Lead to Faster Scientific Progress and Inclusive Science

Abstract

This paper is one of our most important ones in the core philosophy of science, and one that we expect to stand science in extremely good stead as well. We believe this can move the needle and push the envelope as well, and lead us to what we have always called “scientific progress at the speed of light”. We naturally commence this paper by tracing the history of the term “foundationalism” itself, right from the time of the Ancient Greeks, renaissance and enlightenment thinkers, and finally to the modern and contemporary ones. Types of foundationalism such as strong and weak foundationalism, modest foundationalism, and then finally anti-foundationalism, internalism and externalism are also discussed and dissected threadbare along with allied and related concepts such as circular logic and reasoning, regress and infinite regress, all of which form a part of epistemology. The core concepts forming a part of this paper such as forward linkages, backward linkages, and traceability matrices are also discussed. We follow this up with the core principles of this paper, and discuss the ideal and recommended direction of research, including the ideal nature of research, primary research, secondary research, basic and applied research, and cross-cultural collaboration including vertical and horizontal collaboration as well. This paper is also much more importantly linked to our papers on sociocultural change, pedagogy, scientific methods, and other papers in the social sciences for maximum impact and efficacy. It is therefore an important part and parcel of our globalization of science movement, and one that will help realize our overall goals and mission greatly.