Valerius Terminus: Of the Interpretation of Nature

Name: Valerius Terminus: Of the Interpretation of Nature
Author: Bacon, Francis

Bacon, Francis

Science -- Methodology

| the turbulent Paracelsus or the
                                           | unquiet and skittish Cornelius
                                           | Agrippa. The titanic bearing of the
                                           | Renaissance magus is now supplanted
                                           | by a classical composure similar to
                                           | that of the "conversations" of the
                                           | earliest Humanists. Also in Galileo's
                                           | DIALOGO and in Descartes's RECHERCHE
                                           | DE LA VERITÉ we find the same
                                           | familiar tone and style of
                                           | conversation in which [Descartes
                                           | wrote] "several friends, frankly and
                                           | without ceremony, disclose the best
                                           | of their thoughts to each other." But
                                           | there is besides, in Bacon, the quiet
                                           | confidence that comes from knowing
                                           | the new powers made available to man
                                           | by technology and collaboration.The
                                           | new kind of learning, for which Bacon
                                           | is searching, must get away from
                                           | touches of genius, arbitrary
                                           | conclusions, chance, hasty summaries.
                                           | The emphasis Iaid by Bacon on the
                                           | social factor in scientific research
                                           | and in determining its ends, places
                                           | his philosophy on a radically
                                           | different plane from that of the
                                           | followers of Hermetic tradition."
                                           |
                                           | In DE SAPIENTIA VETERUM  Bacon
                                           | describes Orpheus as the mythical
                                           | prototype of the philosopher ("Orpheus
                                           | sive Philosophia", VI, 646-649).
                                           |
                                           | 1B.
                                           | Bacon gives the following
                                           | definition of "interpretation: "that
                                           | reason which is elicited from facts

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Valerius Terminus: Of the Interpretation of Nature

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