Humanities 3 V. The Scientific Revolution

Humanities 3 V. The Scientific Revolution

Lecture 18 Banishing Idols

Outline Modern Science: Key Ideas Bacon and The New Organon Bacon s Conception of Science The Four Idols

Modern Science: Key Ideas The Scientific Mind Experimental Method Mathematization of Nature Institutionalization of Science

The Scientific Mind Science is based on questioning nature: no certainties, only inquiry (compare Montaigne s skepticism) Nature can be manipulated and commanded, if its basic laws are understood and obeyed (e.g. optics) There is reason to hope for the future progress of science

Experimental Method inductive reasoning is more than simple observation or the recording of curiosities : it also requires method (Bacon s true induction : NO I.14, 105) hypothesis testing instrumentation, precise measurement

Mathematization of Nature all natural processes conform to unchanging mathematical laws (e.g. planetary motion) only those properties of matter that can be represented mathematically are real: size, shape, motion, but not color, odor, heat, or Aristotelian forms (doctrine of mechanism: see NO I.51)

Institutionalization of Science government funding for research cooperative, peer-reviewed research (Royal Society of London founded in 1660)

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) His father Nicholas was one of Elizabeth s chief councilors; his uncle William Cecil, was her secretary of state and the most powerful man in England Enters Cambridge at 12; trained in law From 1584, MP and government lawyer

Bacon s Political Rise and Fall 1603 James I becomes king 1607 Solicitor General 1613 Attorney General 1618 Lord Chancellor 1621 Impeached for bribery, briefly imprisoned in Tower; upon release retires to country

Death While driving in his coach, Bacon decides to stop and experiment with the effect of cold on the decay of meat. He purchases a fowl and stuffs it with snow. Later he develops bronchitis and dies on April 9, 1626.

Bacon s Goal Bacon s big (unfinished) project was a series of works entitled The Great Instauration The first book in the series was The Advancement of Learning (1606) ; the second, The New Organon (1620) Instauration means a renewal, or starting over So, Bacon s primary goal is to put science-- knowledge of nature and the application of that knowledge--on a sure path of progress by beginning anew

The New Organon It is futile to expect a great advancement in the sciences from overlaying and implanting new things on the old; a new beginning (instauratio) has to be made, from the lowest foundations, unless one is content to go round in circles for ever, with meagre, almost negligible progress. I.31)

Frontispiece, New Organon (1620) Multi pertransibunt et augebitur scientia. --Daniel 12:4

Advancement of Learning, Dedication to James I: For why should a few received authors stand up like Hercules columns, beyond which there should be no sailing or discovering, since we have so bright and benign a star as your Majesty to conduct and prosper us.

Scientific Progress = Divine Providence Nor should the prophecy of Daniel be forgotten concerning the last ages of the world: Many shall go to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased ; clearly intimating that the thorough passage of the world (which now by so many distant voyages seems to be accomplished, or in course of accomplishment), and the advancement of the sciences, are destined by fate, that is, by Divine Providence, to meet in the same age. (NO I.93)

Bacon: Science and the Fall For man by the fall fell at the same time from his state of innocence and from his dominion over creation. Both of these losses however can even in this life be in some part repaired; the former by religion and faith, the latter by arts and sciences. For creation was not by the curse made altogether and forever a rebel, but in virtue of that charter In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, it is now by various labors... at length and in some measure subdued to the supplying of man with bread, that is, to the uses of human life. (II.52)

Book I of the New Organon presents an extended argument on behalf of the reasonableness of hope for what science can deliver: But much of the greatest obstacle to the progress of the sciences and to opening up new tasks and provinces within them lies in men s lack of hope and in the assumption that it is impossible. And therefore we should reveal and publish our conjectures, which make it reasonable to have hope; just as Columbus did, before his wonderful voyage across the Atlantic Sea (I.92)

Significance of the Title The title refers to Aristotle s Organon, or instrument of logic, which Bacon aims to replace: Neither the bare hand nor the understanding left to itself are of much use. It is by instruments and other aids that the work gets done, and these are needed as much by the understanding as by the hand. And just as instruments improve or regulate the movement of our hands, so instruments of the mind provide suggestions or cautions to the understanding. (I.2)

Deductive syllogism All men are mortal Socrates is a man! Socrates is mortal Socrates mortality is explained by the universal truth that all men are moral and the fact that he is a man. However, we don t thereby discover any new knowledge about Socrates.

Bacon s book promises a new instrument for the investigation of nature: As the sciences in their present state are useless for the discovery of works, so logic in its present state is useless for the discovery of sciences. The only hope is true induction. (I.11)

Inductive Methods Simple enumeration: A 1 is B, A 2 is B, A 3 is B. therefore, all As are B. Common cause: A 1 is B, A 2 is B, A 3 is B therefore there must be some common cause in As that accounts for their being B Hypothesis testing: As are B because of factor C (the cause of an A being B). If C, then D. Is D observed in all As that are B? If not, the hypothesis is refuted. If so, the hypothesis is provisionally accepted.

Bacon s Conception of Science Empirical/Experimental (I.1) Methodical (I.2, 8) Cooperative Applied: knowledge is power (I.4) Science promises worldly--not eternal--happiness

Success is the Measure of Truth Of all signs there is none more certain or more noble than that taken from fruits. For fruits and works are as it were sponsors and sureties of the truth of philosophies. Now, from all these systems of the Greeks... there can hardly after the lapse of so many years be adduced a single experiment which tends to relieve and benefit the condition of man, and which can with truth be referred to the speculations and theories of philosophy. (I.73)

Impediments to Progress: Idols There is a root cause of nearly all the evils in the sciences, namely, that while we wrongly admire and extol the powers of the human mind, we fail to look for true ways of helping it. (I.9) So much then for the several kinds of idols and their trappings, which must be steadily and sternly disowned and renounced, and the understanding entirely rid and purged of them, so that the entry into the kingdom of man, which is founded on the sciences, may be like the entry into the kingdom of heaven, which is only to be entered as a little child. (I.68)

The Four Idols The idols and false notions that have hitherto occupied the human understanding, and lie deepseated there, have not only so beset men s minds that their approach to the truth becomes difficult; but even when access to it is given and conceded, they will present themselves and interfere in that very renewal [instauratio] of the sciences, unless men are forewarned and protect themselves against them as far as possible. (I.38)

Idols of the Tribe Errors common to human nature: sense perception, biases of judgment (e.g. anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism): [T]he human understanding is like an uneven mirror that cannot reflect truly the rays from objects, but distorts and corrupts the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it. (I.41; 45-52)

Idols of the Cave Errors specific to individuals, associated with idiosyncrasies of experience and education: either because of his own distinct and individual nature, or because of what he has been taught or gained in conversation with others, or from his reading, and the authority of those whom he respects and admires. [M]en seek knowledge in lesser worlds, and not in the greater or common world. (I.42; 53-58)

Idols of the Marketplace Errors arising from the commerce among people, related to the misleading character of language: speech is the means of association among men; but words are applied according to common understanding. And in consequence, a wrong and inappropriate application of words obstructs the mind to a remarkable extent. (I.43; 59-60)

Idols of the Theater Errors arising from the various dogmas of philosophers and from false laws of demonstration : all the philosophies that have been received or invented [are like] so many stage plays creating fictitious and imaginary worlds. (I.44, 61-65)

Three Kinds of False Philosophy the Sophistical: forms theories from common notions on the basis of too narrow a foundation of experiment (Aristotle) the Empirical: builds a complete system of nature from some unusual phenomenon, ignoring contrary evidence (alchemy, magnetism) the Superstitious: mix their philosophy with theology and traditions (natural magic, astrology)