Aphorisms concerning the interpretation of nature zealation

HOW TO FREE THE MIND FROM
SUPERSTITION???
 From Book 1 of Novum Organum (1620)
 Bacon a person of questionable character &
politics
 Accused of taking bribes
 Founder of modern science
 1st philosopher to argue = science must become
more honest through objective experimentation
 He was honest in experiment
 Collected ice for experiment, caught pneumonia
 This essay shows his concern for developing an
objective approach to science.

Aphorisms Concerning the Interpretation of Nature
& the Kingdom of Man
by Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626)
 Observation, Perception, experiment, hypothesis
 Most important fact: instrument of repeated
observation, the human mind
 A work, a landmark in thought
 To find out an objective truth (scientific truth) –
used scientific method.
 Inductive method – experimental method
 Facts, data, results from repeated observation
and effects of experiment
 The purpose of knowledge is to control nature

 To investigate any natural phenomena – it is
necessary to collect data, facts and causes
 Without listing causes – no conclusion
IDEOLOGY
Santosham param shukham – bourgeois ideology and
hence promotes ignorance
Asantosham param shukham leads to knowledge
and development
Man is the best of animals because of asantosh
(curiosity & inquisitiveness)
FRANCIS BACON belongs to Enlightenment PERIOD

 Francis Bacon belongs to ENLIGHTMENT
PERIOD
 The Enlightenment, sometimes called the
'Age of Enlightenment', was a late 17th- and
18th-century intellectual movement
emphasizing reason, individualism, and
skepticism.
 The Enlightenment presented a challenge to
traditional religious views.

 Enlightenment thinkers were the liberals of their day. They
were typically humanists who supported equality and human
dignity. They stood opposed (in varying degrees) to
supernatural occurrences, superstition, intolerance, and
bigotry.
 The Scientific Revolution of the 17th century is closely
associated with the Enlightenment, and in many respects, the
two overlap.
 Scientific thinking played a crucial role in the Enlightenment,
as thinkers employed the scientific method to understand the
world around them.
 There is no exact beginning date for the Enlightenment
because it was such a broad movement. It did not suddenly
spring up out of nowhere, but instead developed gradually.

 Most historians place the beginning of the Enlightenment between the mid-
17th century and the beginning of the 18th century. The writings of
intellectuals, like René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Isaac Newton,
were particularly important in giving birth to the Enlightenment.
 The Enlightenment started in Europe and eventually spread to the United
States, where it attracted followers like Thomas Paine and Thomas
Jefferson.
 The Enlightenment died out in the early 19th century as Romanticism
gained appeal.
 deist movement :deism is the belief that God exists, but chooses to let the
universe proceed according to natural law.
 Deists deny supernatural occurrences and insist that God is knowable
through reason and nature, not divine revelation.
 Deism is often conceptualized by a comparison with a clock and a
clockmaker. In the deist view, God is the great 'clockmaker' who
created the world (like a clock) and then allows it to 'run' according to
natural operation (without supernatural intervention). Not all, but
some of America's Founding Fathers were deists, most notably,
Thomas Jefferson.

 By skepticism, we're talking about skepticism of religious dogma,
the institutionalized church, government authority, and even
skepticism of the nature of reality.
 To illustrate this point, let's look at something called the divine right
of kings. According to this view, which had been popular among
Catholics for centuries, monarchs had been placed in positions of
power by the will of God and were not subject to Earthly powers.
 Enlightenment thinkers were skeptics.
 They typically rejected 'blind faith.' They wanted 'proof' in the modern
sense that you and I want proof before believing something.
 This applied to all spheres of life, especially science, and even the
nature of reality itself.
 This is exemplified by René Descartes, who, in searching for 'proof'
of his own existence, famously said: 'I think; therefore, I am.‘
 DEISM, skepticism, Individualism

 BACON’S SCIENTIFIC APPROACH FOR THRUTH:
 Scientific method is called experimentation/ inductive method.
 I. M. is discovering general rules and principles from particular facts
and examples.
 It is against deductive method because it is old method of knowing
truth.
 Old method is called deductive method.
 D.M. is process of using information you have in order to understand
a particular situation or to find the answer to a problem.
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DED. & IND. METHOD
1. In inductive method (IM) the conclusion is derived from the
premises with only probability. In inductive argument the
information is beyond premises. It is a method to discover new
information. It follows observation test and check things out in
some systematic way. It is based on enumeration. It includes

- it is also based on an analogy. An analogy is the comparison of
something familiar to something unfamiliar in order to explain, find
common principle. Induction seeks causes to explain events.
- To argue analogically, it is necessary to proceed on the assumptions
that if two things are similar in some respects, they are probably
similar in other respects.
- The difference between inductive and deductive method is as
follows:

 Old method
 General to particular
 Purpose is to reach
conclusion that can’t be
false
 Thinking is based on
inferences (guesses) about
the relationship of claims
 Truth of premises is
assumed or determined by
reasoning.
 Scientific method
 Particular to general
 Purpose is to reach a
conclusion for testing and
application
 Thinking is guided by
theories observations,
research & investigations.
Data are collected &
analyzed. Sudden insights &
unexpected discoveries can
occur.
 Tests verify , measures of
truth in terms of reliability,
accuracy & applicability.
Deductive Inductive

 Applies known laws to
specific circumstances.
 Conclusion is final.
 Indicator words that
present the conclusion:
necessarily, certainly,
definitely, absolutely, of
course, naturally
 If the premises are true or
assumed to be true and
the reasoning valid, the
conclusion can’t be false.
 Discovers new laws.
 Conclusion is a
hypothesis or statement
of probability.
 Tests verify measures
of truth in terms of
reliability, accuracy &
applicability.
 Even if the premises
are true, the conclusion
in only probably & even
be false.
Deductive Inductive

- Bacon favored experimental method to
understand nature. He talks about the power and
the possibility of human mind to understand
nature.
- Anticipation of nature
- Interpretation of nature
- The interpreter should be a guide not a judge.
- The word idol comes from the Old
French idole for "pagan god," through the
Greek eidolon for “reflection in water or a mirror.”
In religion, an idol isn’t the real deity but a
representation of it. These days, rock stars and
celebrities are idols, but so are scientists and
writers.

When a scientist Based on Bacon idea (inductive method):
There are four kinds of idols
 Idols of tribe
 Idols of cave
 Idols of market place
 Idols of theatre
 Bacon thinks (talks about) how much man can understand
nature.
 Scientifically – how much man is capable in understanding
nature
 Knowledge is power
 Society limits power
 Need the help of facts and thoughts about nature

An idol can be a religious image or a person who people admire and
maybe even seem to worship. A statue of a Hindu god is a
religious idol, but Madame Curie is an idol to aspiring scientists.
According to Bacon, when a scientist goes ahead with method of
experimentation, inductive quest for truth is likely to be hampered by
countless numbers of false notion & preconceived ideas, lots of
prejudices, biases, irrational impulses psychic drives, traditional
influences, superstitious beliefs and many preconceived notions.
These forces and facts, which hamper human understanding, are
called idols by Francis Bacon.
Furthermore, idols are those notions which present human
understanding from being Crystal clear authentically and objectively.
These idols trouble human minds. All these idols and bad effects on our
understanding can be removed by using inductive method. I.M. is
useful to remove all these idols from the horizon of understanding.

IDOLS OF THE TRIBE: It originates from human nature. Being a
human beings, we fall victim to this kind of idols when we apply our
senses as a parameter of judging other things.
Since originates from the collective nature of the tribe of men. When
we use sense, realization and knowledge in other fields, we are
likely to be affected by the idols of tribe.
Collective understanding as a truth can’t be equally relevant, truth in
other situations.
Other new things don’t enter into human minds, on the contrary,
human mind distorts new ideas, discolors and take them into its
own shape.
The comfort zone of human mind is likely to prevent from getting an
objective & authentic truth.
Idols of the tribe arises from our general assumptions that there is
order system & regularity in the human cosmos. Thus it is the

Idols of the cave: the idols of the cave refers to the
storehouse of those things which are hidden inside
our minds. They are categorized as follows:
Our unusual /strange nature
Our acquired habits and manners from our education
system & interaction with others.
Our derived ideas & influence from books and writers
that we like most. Some preoccupied ideas, unique
habits and lunatic behavior, which we have practiced
they are called the idols of cave.
Those idols create impediments and hindrances in our
understanding. Our unusual attitude and idiosyncratic
mindsets are the source of ideal of the cave.

IDOLS OF THE MARKETPLACE:
All those false assumptions which enter into the understanding
through the alliances of words and names are the idols of the
marketplace. It is believed that our reason controls the words.
Though, it is true to some extent but it is not always true.
When we repeat words frequently, words too begin to poison
to our reason. The repeated use of words distort our
understanding.
Abstract names also create some idols of the marketplace
because they do not exists neatly and clearly. i.e. GOD,
LOVE, ANGEL, DEMON, AFFECTION, FORTUNES.
Those constructed words naturally create a deal of confusion in
our understanding.
Moreover, false and unskillful abstraction are also the idols of
marketplace. For example, the word humid. Humid denotes
several meanings that affect our understanding.

IDOLS OF THE THEATRE: old philosophies and
theological ideas if allowed without any biases if
allowed without any prejudices and biases easily
mislead our style of comprehension.
idols of the theatre refer to those ideas & systems
which steal into understanding. From the
playbooks of arcaine philosophies & the perverted
rules of demonstrations. Those kinds of idols are
not innate.
They come from our unconscious preoccupation
with religious and theological ideas.
False application of Aristotalian logics create the
idols of theatre.

Aphorisms concerning the interpretation of nature zealation

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