Bacon and the Empiricists

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Bacon and the Empiricists

• Daniela Rölz Isabel von Ploetz
• SoSe 2004
• Innovation, change and decision-making in
  international organisations

2
Bacon and the Empiricists

• Francis Bacon, Life and political career
• Bacons new directions
• - Empiricism
• - The New Organon
• The Idea of Progress
• - The Advancement of Learning
• Bacons science falls on hard times
• Other empiricists Locke, Hobbes
• Conclusion
• Discussion

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Bacon and the Empiricists

• Francis Bacon, Life and political career
• Bacons new directions
• - Empiricism
• - The New Organon
• The Idea of Progress
• - The Advancement of Learning
• Bacons science falls on hard times
• Other empiricists Locke, Hobbes
• Conclusion
• Discussion

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Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
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Life Political Career

• 1561 Sir Francis Bacon was born in London
• 1573 entered Trinity College in Cambridge
• 1584 elected to Parliament
• 1601 plot to kidnap Queen Elizabeth I

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Life Political Career

• 1603 James I became king
• 1604 Appointed Kings Counsel
• 1618 Made Lord Chancellor
• 1621 charged with bribery and prohibited from
  sitting in parliament
• 1626 Francis Bacon died

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Bacon and the Empiricists

• Francis Bacon, Life and political career
• Bacons new directions
• - Empiricism
• - The New Organon
• The Idea of Progress
• - The Advancement of Learning
• Bacons science falls on hard times
• Other empiricists Locke, Hobbes
• Conclusion
• Discussion

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Empiricism

• Philosophical movement in the 18th century.
• All knowledge comes from experience
• ? Rationalism (17th century) knowledge comes
  from concepts known instinctively through reason
  concepts innate ideas (Descartes)
• Empiricists Francis Bacon, John Locke, Thomas
  Hobbes, George Berkeley

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Bacons new directions

• Bacon is often thought as the originator of
  Modern Empiricism.
• He wrote a radical new way for discovering truth.
• people shouldnt use the theories they had
  inherited

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Bacons new directions

• He was opposed to theories that come before the
  facts
• We should start with observations and build our
  theories upon them
• build knowledge on experience
• knowledge shouldn't be built on little or
  unsystematic experience

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The New Organon (1620)

• Novum Organum or True Directions for the
  Interpretation of Nature
• the Greek word organon means instrument or
  tool
• new instrument for guiding and correcting the
  mind in its search for a true understanding of
  nature
• Aphorism short saying, referred just to the way
  he wrote

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The Idols

• idols are characteristic errors, natural
  tendencies or defects of the mind
• prevent the mind from achieving a full and
  accurate understanding of nature
• idol derives from the Greek word eidolon (which
  means image or phantom)
• According to Bacon Idols prejudices of the
  mind
• they prevent a successful study of natural
  phenomena

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1. Idols of tribe

• prejudices arising from human nature
• natural weaknesses like the senses (which are
  inherently dull and easily deceivable)
• Bacon we tend to find regularity where there is
  actually randomness, etc.
• tendency towards wishful thinking.
• natural preference to accept, believe, and even
  prove what we would prefer to be true
• tendency to rush into conclusions, instead of
  collecting evidence

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2. Idols of cave

• prejudices coming from psychic condition of the
  human soul
• vary from individual to individual (unlike idols
  of tribe)
• referring to our culture
• reflect prejudices and beliefs that we have
  because of our cultural background (different
  family backgrounds, childhood experiences,
  education, training, gender, religion, social
  class, etc.)

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3. Idols of marketplace

• prejudices resulting from social relationships
• hindrances to clear thinking
• main culprit language (not only common speech,
  but also special discourses, vocabularies)
• two types
• names of things that do not exist
• faulty, vague or misleading names for things that
  do exist (abstract qualities and value terms
  such as moist or useful,)
• can be a source of confusion

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4. The Idols of the Theatre

• prejudices deriving from false philosophical
  systems
• rather culturally acquired than inborn (like
  idols of cave)
• metaphor of a theatre suggests artificial
  imitation of truth
• Bacon idols derive mainly from schemes or
  systems of philosophy (Sophistical, Empirical,
  Superstitious P.)

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Induction

• opposite Deduction ? Drawing a particular
  conclusion from a general premises
• Induction Drawing a conclusion based on your own
  experience
• propositions axiom maxim

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Induction (2)

• problem general axioms prove false, all the
  intermediate axioms may be false as well
• Bacon step by step from one axiom to another, so
  that the most general is not reached till the
  last ? each axiom step up on the ladder of
  intellect

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Induction (3)

• Bacon Induction is a lot more secure and
  scientific than deduction
• necessary tool for the proper interpretation of
  nature
• differs from the classic induction of Aristotle
  and other logicians
• they always wanted to draw general conclusions as
  soon as possible
• general conclusion basis for further work

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Bacon and the Empiricists

• Francis Bacon, Life and political career
• Bacons new directions
• - Empiricism
• - The New Organon
• The Idea of Progress
• - The Advancement of Learning
• Bacons science falls on hard times
• Other empiricists Locke, Hobbes
• Conclusion
• Discussion

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The Idea of Progress

• 1605 The Advancement of Learning first
  important philosophical work
• 3 Distempers of Learning
• fantastical learning
• contentious learning
• delicate learning

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The Idea of Progress

• Fantastical learning
• Could be called pseudo-science
• Lack of real and substantial foundation
• Professed by occultists and charlatans

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The Idea of Progress

• Contentious Learning
• Criticized Aristotelian philosophy
• Aim not new knowledge or deeper understanding,
  but endless debates

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The Idea of Progress

• Delicate Learning
• according to the revival of Ciceronian rhetorical
  embellishment
• criticized preoccupation with words and style

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The Idea of Progress

• Expanded version of the Advancement
• 3 categories for a new division of human
  knowledge
• History
• Poesy
• Philosophy
• Prestige of Philosophy had to be elevated,
• while that of history and literature (humanism)
  needed to be reduced.

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Bacon and the Empiricists

• Francis Bacon, Life and political career
• Bacons new directions
• - Empiricism
• - The New Organon
• The Idea of Progress
• - The Advancement of Learning
• Bacons science falls on hard times
• Other empiricists Locke, Hobbes
• Conclusion
• Discussion

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Bacons science falls on hard times

• Reference to the past (literary and
  philosophical)
• Latin was universal language of philosophy
• Since 1860 translation of his works in English
• Bacons theory lost its semiotic foundation

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Bacon and the Empiricists

• Francis Bacon, Life and political career
• Bacons new directions
• - Empiricism
• - The New Organon
• The Idea of Progress
• - The Advancement of Learning
• Bacons science falls on hard times
• Other empiricists Locke, Hobbes
• Conclusion
• Discussion

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Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
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Thomas Hobbes

• He helped Bacon to write down his ideas, when
  Bacons infirmities prevented him from doing it
  for himself.
• After Bacons death, he presented a theory of
  social science
• based on careful observation ? Baconian method of
  science

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John Locke (1632-1704)
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John Locke

• Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)
• He was the first to give a logic for Empiricism.
• Main interest illuminating knowledge and
  examining its validity
• Locke attempt to prove everything by nature and
  fact (like Bacon)

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John Locke

• He denied that there are innate ideas.
• Human intellect clean sheet of paper
• Everything which is written on it, takes its
  origin from experience
• Experience external (sensation) and internal
  (reflection)

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Bacon and the Empiricists

• Francis Bacon, Life and political career
• Bacons new directions
• - Empiricism
• - The New Organon
• The Idea of Progress
• - The Advancement of Learning
• Bacons science falls on hard times
• Other empiricists Locke, Hobbes
• Conclusion
• Discussion

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Conclusion and Cultural Legacy

• Universal Genius
• political statesman and practical visionary
• Many admirers (Kant, Voltaire)
• controversial Bacons view that nature exists
  mainly for human use and benefit

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Bacon and the Empiricists

• Francis Bacon, Life and political career
• Bacons new directions
• - Empiricism
• - The New Organon
• The Idea of Progress
• - The Advancement of Learning
• Bacons science falls on hard times
• Other empiricists Locke, Hobbes
• Conclusion
• Discussion

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Discussion

• QUESTIONS???