DHARMA stands for Department od Heuristics And Research of Material Applications. The study of heuristics relates to how problems are solves. In a psychological sense - it observes and explainds how people resolve problems, make decisions and judgements under different circumstances - like stress or when givin incomplete information.
Isn't that what the others are doing to Jack and all the losties? They are putting them in highly stressful environments and feeding them minimal information - then watching the results calmly and clinically.
I just thought this was interesting