Name: Francis BaconFrancis Bacon

Age: 65 years old

Activity: philosopher, historian, politician

Family status: was married

Francis Bacon: biography

The pioneer of the philosophy of modern times, the English scientist Francis Bacon, is known to contemporaries primarily as the developer of scientific methods for studying nature - induction and experiment, the author of the books "New Atlantis", "New Orgagon" and "Experiments, or Moral and Political Instructions".

Childhood and youth

The founder of empiricism was born on January 22, 1561, in the Yorkhouse mansion, on the central London Strand. The scientist's father, Nicholas, was a politician, and his mother Anna (nee Cook) was the daughter of Anthony Cook, a humanist who raised King Edward VI of England and Ireland.

From a young age, the mother instilled in her son a love of knowledge, and she, a girl who knows ancient Greek and Latin, did it with ease. In addition, the boy himself from a tender age showed an interest in knowledge. For two years, Francis studied at Trinity College, Cambridge University, then spent three years in France, in the retinue of the English ambassador, Sir Amyas Paulet.

After the death of the head of the family in 1579, Bacon was left without a livelihood and entered the school of barristers to study law. In 1582, Francis became a lawyer, and in 1584 - a Member of Parliament, and until 1614 played a prominent role in the debate at the sessions of the House of Commons. From time to time, Bacon composed Messages to the Queen, in which he strove to approach pressing political issues impartially.

Now biographers agree that if the Queen had followed his advice, a couple of conflicts between the Crown and Parliament could have been avoided. In 1591, he became an adviser to the queen's favorite, the Earl of Essex. Bacon immediately made it clear to the patron that he was devoted to the country, and when in 1601 Essex tried to organize a coup, Bacon, being a lawyer, participated in his condemnation as a traitor.

Due to the fact that people standing above Francis in rank saw him as a rival, and because he often expressed his dissatisfaction with the policies of Elizabeth I in epistolary form, Bacon soon lost favor with the Queen and could not count on promotion. Under Elizabeth I, the lawyer never reached high positions, but after James I Stuart ascended the throne in 1603, Francis's career went uphill.

Bacon was knighted in 1603 and raised to the title of Baron of Verulam in 1618 and Viscount of St. Albans in 1621. In the same 1621, the philosopher was accused of taking bribes. He admitted that the people whose cases were tried in court repeatedly gave him gifts. True, the fact that this influenced his decision, the lawyer denied. As a result, Francis was deprived of all posts and forbidden to appear at court.

Philosophy and teaching

The main literary creation of Bacon is the work "Experiments" ("Essayes"), on which he continuously worked for 28 years. Ten essays were published in 1597, and by 1625, 58 texts had already been collected in the book "Experiments", some of which appeared in a third, revised edition called "Experiments, or Instructions moral and political."

In these writings, Bacon reflected on ambition, friends, love, science, the vicissitudes of things, and other aspects of human life. The works abounded with learned examples and brilliant metaphors. People striving for career heights will find advice in the texts built solely on cold calculation. There are, for example, statements such as:

“All who rise high pass along the zigzags of a spiral staircase” and “Wife and children are hostages of fate, for the family is an obstacle to the accomplishment of great deeds, both good and evil.”

Despite Bacon's occupations with politics and jurisprudence, the main business of his life was philosophy and science. He rejected Aristotelian deduction, which at that time occupied a dominant position, as an unsatisfactory way of philosophizing and proposed a new tool for thinking.

The outline of the "great plan for the restoration of the sciences" was made by Bacon in 1620, in the preface to the New Organon, or True Directions for Interpretation. It is known that this work included six parts (a review of the current state of the sciences, a description of a new method for obtaining true knowledge, a set of empirical data, a discussion of issues to be further investigated, preliminary solutions, and philosophy itself).

Bacon only managed to sketch the first two movements. The first was entitled "On the Usefulness and Success of Knowledge", the Latin version of which "On the Dignity and Multiplication of the Sciences" was published with corrections.

Since the basis of the critical part of Francis's philosophy is the doctrine of the so-called "idols" that distort people's knowledge, in the second part of the project he described the principles of the inductive method, with the help of which he proposed to overthrow all the idols of the mind. According to Bacon, there are four types of idols that besiege the minds of all mankind:

1. The first type is the idols of the family (mistakes that a person makes by virtue of his very nature).
2. The second type is the idols of the cave (mistakes due to prejudice).
3. The third type is the idols of the square (mistakes caused by inaccuracies in the use of language).
4. The fourth type is the idols of the theater (mistakes made due to adherence to authorities, systems and doctrines).

Describing the prejudices that hinder the development of science, the scientist proposed a tripartite division of knowledge, produced according to mental functions. He attributed history to memory, poetry to imagination, and philosophy (which included the sciences) to reason. According to Bacon, scientific knowledge is based on induction and experiment. Induction can be complete or incomplete.

Complete induction means the regular repetition of a property of an object in the class under consideration. Generalizations proceed from the assumption that this will be the case in all similar cases. Incomplete induction includes generalizations made on the basis of the study of not all cases, but only some (conclusion by analogy), because, as a rule, the number of all cases is boundless, and theoretically it is impossible to prove their infinite number. This conclusion is always probabilistic.

In trying to create a "true induction", Bacon was looking not only for facts confirming a certain conclusion, but also for facts refuting it. He thus armed natural science with two means of research - enumeration and exclusion. Moreover, exceptions mattered. Using this method, for example, he established that the "form" of heat is the movement of the smallest particles of the body.

In his theory of knowledge, Bacon adheres to the idea that true knowledge follows from sensory experience (such a philosophical position is called empirical). He also gave an overview of the limits and nature of human knowledge in each of these categories and pointed out important areas of research that no one had paid attention to before him. The core of Bacon's methodology is a gradual inductive generalization of the facts observed in experience.

However, the philosopher was far from a simplified understanding of this generalization and emphasized the need to rely on reason in the analysis of facts. In 1620, Bacon wrote the utopia "New Atlantis" (published after the death of the author, in 1627), which, in terms of the scope of the idea, should not have been inferior to the work "Utopia" of the great friend and mentor, whom he later beheaded, because of intrigues second wife.

For this "new lamp in the darkness of the philosophy of the past" King James granted Francis a pension of £1,200. In the unfinished work “New Atlantis”, the philosopher spoke about the mysterious country of Bensalem, which was led by the “Solomon House”, or “Society for the Knowledge of the True Nature of All Things”, uniting the main sages of the country.

From the communist and socialist works, the creation of Francis differed by a pronounced technocratic character. The discovery by Francis of a new method of cognition and the conviction that research should begin with observations, and not with theories, put him on a par with the most important representatives of the scientific thought of modern times.

It is also worth noting that Bacon's teachings on law and, in general, the ideas of experimental science and the experimental-empirical method of research have made an invaluable contribution to the treasury of human thought. However, during his lifetime, the scientist did not receive significant results either in empirical research or in the field of theory, and experimental science rejected his method of inductive cognition through exceptions.

Personal life

Bacon was married once. It is known that the wife of the philosopher was three times younger than himself. Alice Burnham, the daughter of the widow of the London elder Benedict Burnham, became the chosen one of the great scientist.

The wedding of 45-year-old Francis and 14-year-old Alice took place on May 10, 1606. The couple had no children.

Death

Bacon died on April 9, 1626, at the age of 66, by an absurd accident. Francis was fond of studying all kinds of natural phenomena all his life, and one winter, riding with the royal physician in a carriage, the scientist came up with the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bconducting an experiment in which he intended to test the extent to which cold slows down the process of decay.

The philosopher bought a chicken carcass in the market and buried it in the snow with his own hands, from which he caught a cold, fell ill and died on the fifth day of his scientific experience. The grave of the lawyer is located on the territory of the Church of St. Michael in St. Albans (UK). It is known that a monument was erected at the burial site after the death of the author of the book "New Atlantis".

Discoveries

Francis Bacon developed new scientific methods - induction and experiment:

• Induction is a term widely used in science, denoting a method of reasoning from the particular to the general.
• An experiment is a method of studying some phenomenon under conditions controlled by an observer. It differs from observation by active interaction with the object under study.

Bibliography

• 1957 - "Experiments, or Instructions moral and political" (1st edition)
• 1605 - "On the benefit and success of knowledge"
• 1609 - "On the wisdom of the ancients"
• 1612 - "Experiments, or Instructions moral and political" (2nd edition)
• 1620 - "The Great Restoration of the Sciences, or the New Organon"
• 1620 - "New Atlantis"
• 1625 - "Experiments, or Instructions moral and political" (3rd edition)
• 1623 - "On the dignity and multiplication of sciences"

Quotes

• "The worst loneliness is not having true friends"
• "Excessive frankness is as indecent as perfect nudity"
• "I have thought a lot about death and find that it is the lesser of evils"
• “People who have a lot of shortcomings, first of all notice them in others”

The first thinker who made empirical knowledge the basis for any knowledge is Francis Bacon. He, together with Rene Descartes, proclaimed the basic principles for the New Age. Bacon's philosophy gave birth to a fundamental precept for Western thinking: knowledge is power. It was in science that he saw the most powerful tool for progressive social change. But who was this famous philosopher, what is the essence of his doctrine?

Childhood and youth

The founder Bacon was born on January 22, 1561 in London. His father was a senior official at the court of Elizabeth. The atmosphere at home, the education of his parents, undoubtedly influenced little Francis. At twelve he was sent to Trinity College, Cambridge University. Three years later he was sent to Paris as part of a royal mission, but the young man soon returned due to the death of his father. In England, he took up jurisprudence, and very successfully. However, he considered his successful work as a lawyer only as a springboard to a political and public career. Undoubtedly, the entire subsequent philosophy of F. Bacon experienced the experiences of this period. Already in 1584 he was first elected in the court of James the First Stuart, there was a rapid rise of the young politician. The king granted him many ranks, awards and high positions.

Career

The philosophy of Bacon is closely connected with the reign of the First. In 1614, the king dissolved the parliament completely and ruled virtually single-handedly. However, in need of advisers, Jacob brought Sir Francis closer to him. Already by 1621, Bacon was appointed Lord of the High Chancellery, Baron Verulamsky, Viscount of St. Albany, Keeper of the Royal Seal and an honorary member of the so-called Privy Council. When, nevertheless, it became necessary for the king to reassemble the parliament, the parliamentarians did not forgive such an elevation to an ordinary former lawyer, and he was sent to rest. An outstanding philosopher and politician died on April 9, 1626.

Compositions

During the years of troublesome court service, the empirical philosophy of F. Bacon developed due to his interest in science, law, morality, religion and ethics. His writings glorified their author as a great thinker and the actual ancestor of the entire philosophy of modern times. In 1597, the first work entitled "Experiments and Instructions" was published, which was then revised twice and reprinted many times. In 1605, the essay “On the Significance and Success of Knowledge, Divine and Human” was published. After his departure from politics, Francis Bacon, whose quotations can be seen in many modern works of philosophy, delved into his mental research. In 1629, the "New Organon" was published, and in 1623 - "On the Merits and Multiplication of Science." Bacon's philosophy, briefly and concisely presented in allegorical form for a better understanding of the broad masses, was reflected in the utopian story "New Atlantis". Other excellent works: "On Heaven", "On the Beginnings and Causes", "The History of King Henry the Seventeenth", "The History of Death and Life".

Main thesis

All the scientific and ethical thought of modern times was anticipated by the philosophy of Bacon. It is very difficult to summarize its entire array, but it can be said that the main purpose of the work of this author is to bring to a more perfect form the communication between things and the mind. It is the mind that is the highest measure of value. The philosophy of modern times and the Enlightenment, developed by Bacon, placed special emphasis on correcting the barren and vague concepts that are used in the sciences. Hence the need "with a new look to address things and to restore and in general all human knowledge."

A look at science

Francis Bacon, whose quotes were used by almost all eminent philosophers of the New Age, believed that science since the time of the ancient Greeks had made very little progress in understanding and studying nature. People began to think less about the initial principles and concepts. Thus, Bacon's philosophy calls on posterity to pay attention to the development of science and do it to improve all life. He opposed prejudices about science, sought recognition of scientific research and scientists. It was from him that a sharp change in European culture began, it was from his thoughts that many areas of modern philosophy grew. From a suspicious occupation in the eyes of the people of Europe, science is becoming a prestigious and important field of knowledge. In this regard, many philosophers, scientists and thinkers follow in the footsteps of Bacon. Scholasticism, which was completely divorced from technical practice and the knowledge of nature, is being replaced by science, which has a close connection with philosophy and relies on special experiments and experiments.

A look at education

In his book The Great Restoration of the Sciences, Bacon drew up a well-thought-out and detailed plan for changing the entire education system: its funding, approved regulations and statutes, and the like. He was one of the first politicians and philosophers to emphasize the importance of activities to provide funds for education and experimentation. Bacon also stated the need to revise the teaching programs at universities. Even now, getting acquainted with Bacon's reflections, one can be surprised at the depth of his foresight as a statesman, scientist and thinker: the program from The Great Restoration of the Sciences is relevant to this day. It is difficult to imagine how revolutionary it was in the seventeenth century. It was thanks to Sir Francis that the seventeenth century in England became "the century of great scientists and scientific discoveries." It was Bacon's philosophy that became the forerunner of such modern disciplines as sociology, the economics of science and science of science. The main contribution of this philosopher to the practice and theory of science was that he saw the need to bring scientific knowledge under a methodological and philosophical justification. The philosophy of F. Bacon was aimed at the synthesis of all sciences into a single system.

Science differentiation

Sir Francis wrote that the most correct division of man's knowledge is that of the three natural faculties of the rational soul. History in this scheme corresponds to memory, philosophy is reason, and poetry is imagination. History is divided into civil and natural. Poetry is divided into parabolic, dramatic and epic. The most detailed consideration is the classification of philosophy, which is divided into a huge number of subspecies and types. Bacon also separates it from "divinely inspired theology", which he leaves exclusively to theologians and theologians. Philosophy is divided into natural and transcendent. The first block includes teachings about nature: physics and metaphysics, mechanics, mathematics. It is they who form the backbone of such a phenomenon as the philosophy of modern times. Bacon thinks on a large scale and broadly about man. In his ideas there is a doctrine about the body (this includes medicine, athletics, art, music, cosmetics), and a doctrine about the soul, which has many subsections. It includes such sections as ethics, logic (the theory of memorization, discovery, judgment) and "civil science" (which includes the doctrine of business relations, the state, and government). Bacon's complete classification does not leave without due attention any of the areas of knowledge that existed at that time.

"New Organon"

Bacon's philosophy, summarized above, flourishes in The New Organon. It begins with a reflection on what a person, the interpreter and servant of nature, understands and does, comprehends in the order of nature by thinking or deed. The philosophy of Bacon and Descartes, his actual contemporary, is a new milestone in the development of world thought, as it involves the renewal of science, the complete elimination of false concepts and "ghosts", which, according to these thinkers, deeply engulfed the human mind and took root in it. The New Organon expresses the opinion that the old medieval church-scholastic way of thinking is in a deep crisis, and this kind of knowledge (as well as the corresponding methods of research) are imperfect. Bacon's philosophy is based on the fact that the path of knowledge is extremely difficult, since the knowledge of nature is like a labyrinth in which it is necessary to make one's way, and the paths of which are varied and often deceptive. And those who usually lead people along these paths often go astray themselves and increase the number of wanderers and wanderers. That is why there is an urgent need to carefully study the principles of obtaining new scientific knowledge and experience. The philosophy of Bacon and Descartes, and then Spinoza, is based on the establishment of an integral structure and methodology of knowledge. The first task here is the purification of the mind, its release and preparation for creative work.

"Ghosts" - what is it?

Bacon's philosophy speaks of the purification of the mind so that it approaches the truth, which consists in three revelations: the revelation of the generated mind of man, philosophies and proofs. Accordingly, four "ghosts" are also distinguished. What is this? These are the hindrances that hinder true, authentic consciousness:

1) "ghosts" of the genus, which have a basis in human nature, in the genus of people, "in the tribe";

2) "ghosts" of the cave, that is, the delusions of a particular person or group of people, which are caused by the "cave" of the individual or group (that is, the "small world");

3) "ghosts" of the market, which stem from the communication of people;

4) the "ghosts" of the theater, instilling in the soul from perverse laws and dogmas.

All these factors must be discarded and refuted by the triumph of reason over prejudice. It is the social and educational function that is the basis of the doctrine of this kind of interference.

"Ghosts" of the genus

Bacon's philosophy maintains that such disturbances are inherent in the human mind, which tends to attribute much more uniformity and order to things than is actually found in nature. The mind seeks to artificially fit new data and facts to fit its beliefs. A person succumbs to arguments and arguments that most amaze the imagination. The limited cognition and the connection of the mind with the world of feelings are the problems of the philosophy of the New Age, which the great thinkers tried to solve with their writings.

"Ghosts" of the cave

They arise from the diversity of people: some love more particular sciences, others are inclined to general philosophizing and reasoning, others revere ancient knowledge. These differences, which stem from individual characteristics, significantly obscure and distort knowledge.

"Ghosts" of the market

These are the products of the misuse of names and words. According to Bacon, this is where the features of the philosophy of the New Age originate, which are aimed at combating sophistical inaction, verbal skirmishes and disputes. Names and names can be given to things that do not exist, and theories are created about this, false and empty. For a while, fiction becomes real, and this is the paralyzing influence for knowledge. More complex "ghosts" grow out of ignorant and bad abstractions that are put into wide scientific and practical use.

"Ghosts" of the theater

They do not secretly enter the mind, but are transmitted from perverse laws and fictitious theories and perceived by other people. Bacon's philosophy classifies the "ghosts" of the theater into forms of erroneous opinion and thinking (empiricism, sophistry and superstition). There are always negative consequences for practice and science that are caused by a fanatical and dogmatic adherence to pragmatic empiricism or metaphysical speculation.

Teaching about method: the first requirement

Francis Bacon appeals to people whose minds are shrouded in habit and captivated by it, who do not see the need to dismember the whole picture of nature and the way of things in the name of contemplating the one and the whole. It is with the help of “fragmentation”, “separation”, “separation” of the processes and bodies that make up nature, one can establish oneself in the integrity of the universe.

The doctrine of method: the second requirement

This paragraph specifies the specifics of "dismemberment". Bacon believes that separation is not a goal, but a means by which the lightest and simplest components can be distinguished. The subject of consideration here should be the most concrete and simple bodies, as if they "open in their nature in its usual course."

Teaching about method: the third requirement

The search for a simple nature, a simple beginning, as Francis Bacon explains, does not mean that we are talking about specific material bodies, particles or phenomena. The goals and objectives of science are much more complex: it is necessary to take a fresh look at nature, to discover its forms, to look for the source that produces nature. We are talking about the discovery of such a law that could become the basis of activity and knowledge.

Teaching about method: the fourth requirement

Bacon's philosophy says that first of all it is necessary to prepare an "experienced and natural" history. In other words, it is necessary to enumerate and summarize what nature itself says to the mind. Consciousness, which is left to itself, and driven by itself. And already in this process, it is necessary to single out methodological rules and principles that can make it turn into a true understanding of nature.

Social and practical ideas

Sir Francis Bacon's merits as a politician and statesman should not be underestimated in any way. The scope of his social activity was enormous, which would become the hallmark of many philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in England. He highly appreciates mechanics and mechanical inventions, which, in his opinion, are incomparable with spiritual factors and influence human affairs more qualitatively. As well as wealth, which becomes a social value, in contrast to the ideal of scholastic asceticism. Technical and societies are unreservedly endorsed by Bacon, as is technical development. He has a positive attitude towards the modern state and economic system, which will also be characteristic of many philosophers of later times. Francis Bacon confidently advocates the expansion of the colonies, gives detailed advice on painless and "fair" colonization. As a direct participant in British politics, he speaks well of the activities of industrial and commercial companies. The personality of a simple honest businessman, an enterprising entrepreneur, causes Bacon's sympathy. He gives many recommendations regarding the most humane and preferred methods and ways of personal enrichment. Bacon sees an antidote against riots and unrest, as well as poverty, in a flexible policy, subtle state attention to the needs of the public and an increase in the wealth of the population. The specific methods that he recommends are tax regulation, the opening of new trade routes, the improvement of crafts and agriculture, and incentives for manufactories.

Francis Bacon, who lived at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, formulated many ideas that psychologists and cognitive scientists repeat to this day.

In The New Organon, or True Directions for the Interpretation of Nature, Bacon speaks of the need to revise and restore the sciences, laying the foundations for the scientific method that we know today. And there he talks about the difficulties that anyone who seeks to explain the world faces.

"Organon" (from the Greek word "tool, method") was then called the logical writings of Aristotle. He, through his works, presented the method not only to the scholastics, who based their own “sums” and disputes on Aristotelian logic, but also to the entire European scientific thought. Bacon decided to create something no less ambitious, which is why he called the "New Organon" the second part of the work on the "great restoration of the sciences." Bacon considered the main method of scientific knowledge of the world to be induction, which involves reasoning from the particular to the general and is based on experience.

On the path of knowledge, even intelligent and enlightened people encounter many obstacles. These obstacles he called idols or ghosts - from the word "idolum", which in Greek meant "ghost" or "vision". This emphasizes that we are talking about a hassle, an illusion - about something that does not really exist.

We offer to look at these idols and find out if they still exist today.

Idols of the clan

"Ancestral idols" are, according to Bacon, delusions that "found their foundation in the very nature of man." It would be a mistake to believe that the world is exactly as it is seen by our senses. “It is false to say that the feelings of man are the measure of things,” writes Bacon. But the experience that we get by communicating with the external environment is also subject to interpretation, which also creates inevitable errors. The human mind in the "New Organon" is compared to an uneven mirror, which adds its own errors to the reflected things, distorting nature.

The idea that our perceptions are relative was subsequently developed by many scientists and has shaped the modern understanding of the human and natural sciences. The figure of the observer influences the interpretation of famous quantum experiments, be it Schrödinger's cat or Klaus Jensonoms' experiment with electron diffraction. The study of subjectivity and individual human experiences has been a major theme in culture since the 20th century.

Bacon notes that all people have delusions of a "tribal" nature: they are called so because they are characteristic of all of us as a species, and there is no escape from this baggage of one's own nature. But a philosopher - a person who follows the path of knowledge - can at least realize this nature and make allowances for it, putting forward judgments about the essence of phenomena and things.

Cave idols

Before talking about these misconceptions, we first need to dwell on the symbolism of the cave. In classical texts, this image always refers to Plato's cave, which he describes in the dialogue "The State".

According to the myth of the cave, human knowledge and ignorance can be described as follows. Standing with his back to the light of a fire in a dark cave, a person looks at the shadows cast by things on the walls of the cave, and, seeing them, believes that he is dealing with true reality, while he sees only shadow figures. According to Plato, our perception is based on the observation of illusions, and we only imagine that we know the true reality. Thus, the cave is a sensually perceived world.

Bacon clarifies that each person has his own cave, which distorts the light of nature. Unlike the "idols of the family", the "cave" delusions differ for each of us: this means that the errors in the work of our organs of perception are individual. Education and development conditions also play an important role. Like several hundred years ago, today each of us has our own experience of growing up, the behavior patterns learned in childhood, which formed the inner language of our favorite books.

“Besides the mistakes inherent in the human race, everyone has his own special cave, which weakens and distorts the light of nature. This happens either from the special innate properties of each, or from education and conversations with others, or from reading books and from the authorities before whom one bows, or due to a difference in impressions. Francis Bacon, New Organon

In thinking about this, Bacon was ahead of his time in many ways. It was only in the second half of the 20th century that anthropologists, psychologists, and cognitivists began to talk massively about how different perceptions of different people differ. Both and which, ultimately, determine the peculiarities of thinking, not to mention the difference in cultures and the peculiarities of family education, can become a divisive factor.

Idols of the Square

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These "idols" Bacon proposes to detect (and neutralize) in close communities of people united by common ties, interests and problems. Social communication is our best skill as a species, but it can also be the root of the errors that go from individual to collective as people pass on their delusions to each other.

Bacon pays special attention to words, because people are united through speech, and the main mistake that can arise in this regard is “bad and absurd establishment of words.” Let the word "square" not deceive you: these idols got their name simply because the square is a noisy place. And this sin of knowledge, according to the philosopher, affects not only greengrocers in the markets, but also scientists. After all, even when a dispute is started between scientists, it most often gets bogged down in the need to “define concepts”. Everyone who has ever participated in scientific discussions knows that you can decide for as long as you like. Therefore, Bacon advised to turn to the "custom and wisdom" of mathematicians - to begin with definitions.

“People believe that their mind commands words. But it also happens that words turn their power against reason. This has made the sciences and philosophy sophistical and ineffectual. Most of the words have their source in common opinion and separate things within the limits most obvious to the mind of the crowd. Francis Bacon, New Organon

There is a lot of talk today about how important linguistics is for consciousness - and not only cognitive psychologists and linguists, but also specialists who are engaged in machine learning. Since the twentieth century, social philosophers have been actively talking about the significance of words and definitions. By using a language in which there are many reduced concepts, we grossly simplify the thought; using harsh words to define other people - we plant aggression in society. At the same time, giving competent and detailed definitions of things and phenomena, we speak about them more calmly and balancedly, create more competent descriptions.

What Bacon could never have predicted was the development of the means of communication, unprecedented for his time. However, human psychology has not changed much with the receipt of new tools - it's just that now we can even more effectively create communities with our own rules, ideas, prejudices, and the language that reinforces it all.

Theater idols

The last kind of "idols" that take us prisoner of delusions are the idols of the theatre. This refers to the ideas that a person borrows from other people. These include incorrect philosophical teachings, erroneous scientific ideas and false axioms, myths that exist in society. We can blindly trust the authority of other people, or simply repeat the wrong things after others without thinking.

These idols got their name because "how many philosophical systems are accepted or invented, so many comedies are staged and played, representing fictional and artificial worlds." Bacon points out that the interpretations of the universe, which are offered by incorrect theoretical systems, are similar to theatrical performances. They do not give descriptions of the true reality.

This idea still seems to be relevant today. For example, you can remember about the idols of the theater when you hear another pseudoscientific theory or just everyday stupidity based on prejudice.

Epochs are different, but the distortions are the same

In addition to listing the four idols, Bacon left in the New Organon many references to thinking errors that we would today call cognitive distortions.

• Illusory correlation and several other similar distortions: “The human mind, by virtue of its tendency, easily assumes more order and uniformity in things than it finds,” Bacon writes, arguing that people tend to create connections that are not really there.
• Description of the subject's propensity to confirm his point of view: “The mind of a person attracts everything to support and agree with what he once accepted, whether because it is a matter of common faith, or because he likes it. Whatever the strength and number of facts to the contrary, reason either does not notice them, or neglects them, or diverts and rejects them by means of distinctions with a great and pernicious prejudice, so that the reliability of those former conclusions remains intact.
• “The mistake of the survivor” (the hero of this parable did not fall into it): “The one who, when they showed him the images of those who escaped the shipwreck by taking a vow, displayed in the temple and at the same time sought an answer, did he now recognize the power of the gods, asked in turn : "And where are the images of those who died after they made a vow?"

Bacon also talked about the nature of superstition, based on the principles of human thinking (namely, he pointed out that people tend to notice events that fit their expectations and ignore prophecies that do not come true) and pointed out that positively and negatively colored Arguments have different strengths.

He noted that the mind is more strongly influenced by images and events that can "immediately and suddenly hit him." The rest of the events go more or less unnoticed. It's no secret that the information we're interested in is remembered best, especially if our lives depend on it. It is interesting that Bacon drew attention to these features of human perception so long ago.

So, if you are going to read Daniel Kahneman, it makes sense to supplement his books with a volume of Bacon - or even several dialogues of Plato.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher and statesman. Graduated from Cambridge University and Law School. In 1584 he was elected to the House of Commons, where he sat for about 20 years. In 1613, Fr. Bacon became Attorney General of the Royal Court, in 1617 Lord Privy Seal, and in 1618 Lord Chancellor. In the same year, the king awarded him the title of Baron of Verulamsky, and later also the title of Viscount of St. Albans. In 1621, the House of Lords accused him of corruption and bribery. Court decision Fr. Bacon was forbidden to conduct any state activity, but until his death he continued to engage in science.

Although most of Bacon's life (and, in another approach, all of it) proceeded within the conventional chronological framework of the Renaissance, due to the nature of his teaching, he is considered the first modern philosopher.

Practical benefits of science. Bacon noted that the discovery of printing, gunpowder and the compass completely changed the state of affairs, respectively, in literature, military affairs and navigation; these changes in turn gave impetus to numerous changes in all other spheres of human activity. Not a single empire, not a single sect, not a single star has made a greater impact on humanity. But, studying the history of culture, we see that throughout human history, science has had a very weak impact on everyday life. This must be changed: science and acquired knowledge must bear fruit in practice, must serve for the development of technology and industry, and make human life easier.

Biology and anthropology. Mechanistically, Descartes interprets not only inanimate nature, but also living. An animal's body is an automaton in which muscles, ligaments, and joints play the role of gears, levers, and so on. From the brain throughout the body, like threads, nerves stretch, through them the influence of objects from the outside world on the brain is carried out, and through them the commands of the brain are transmitted to the muscles. But with the help of mechanics it is impossible to explain the activity of thinking, and this is one of the reasons why Descartes considered consciousness to be a special substance. The sharp opposition of the body as a mechanism to consciousness (soul) confronted Descartes with the complex problem of their relationship in humans. He tried to solve it mechanistically, arguing that the data of the senses (mechanical influences) are transmitted to consciousness in the pineal gland.

Teaching about method. Scientific knowledge of the world should be based on the use of rigorous methods, which will allow us to move from the random finding of individual truths to their systematic and purposeful "production" If Fr. Bacon considered experience related to objects of the external world to be the basis of science, while Descartes focused on the activity of the human mind, on the search for rules by which the human mind should act. In Rules for the Direction of the Mind, he proposes 21 such rules; in Discourse on Method he reduces them to four.

Table 59 Rules to guide the mind

Gnoseology and rationalism. The first rule is at the same time the last: everything begins with it and everything ends with it. But what can be considered absolutely clear and obvious, without any doubts? Our senses sometimes deceive us. So, we can assume that nothing in the world is what it seems to us. Another source of knowledge is our mind. A pure mind generates, for example, mathematics. And we can say that 2 + 2 = 4 under any circumstances, in a dream and in reality. But is it possible that mathematical knowledge is just a hoax invented by some evil spirit?

Doubt is useful and necessary, it is an obligatory stage on the way to truth. You can doubt everything, but for this it is still necessary that there be someone who doubts, thinks, reflects. Hence, as completely obvious and indisputable, Descartes derives his famous thesis: "I think, therefore I am"("Cogito ergo sum") 1 . The absolute evidence of this thesis for our mind makes it a model of those truths that can be considered so clear and distinct that they do not cause any doubts. On the other hand, it is the evidence of an idea for the mind that turns out to be the highest criterion of truth. In the human mind, Descartes identifies three types of ideas (Table 60).

Table 60 Ideas Contained in the Mind of Man

Innate ideas are contained in the human mind in a coiled form, like germs. The most important among them is the idea of ​​God as an infinite, eternal, unchanging, independent, omniscient substance that gave birth to man and the whole world. The goodness of God is a guarantee that man, His creation, is also capable of cognizing the world, i.e. those ideas that God put into the world during creation as the fundamental laws of being. These same ideas, and primarily mathematical laws and axioms, God put into the human mind. In the mind of the student of science, they unfold and become clear and distinct. 1 This thesis of Descartes interestingly echoes the thesis of Meister Eckhart: “God exists because he knows” (see p. 231).

Ethics. The ethical views of Descartes are also built on the basis of rationalism: the task of a thinking person is to strengthen the power of reason over the tyranny of the senses. In the work "Passion of the Soul" he formulated his basic rules of morality (maxims) (Table 61).

Table 61 moral rules

The fate of teaching The diverse ideas of Descartes had a very significant influence on the development of all subsequent Western philosophy. Thus, the dualism of Descartes was developed in a special trend - occasionalism, but was not accepted by other philosophers - even by Spinoza, whom he considered himself a student of Descartes. The foundations of deism and mechanism laid down in the teachings of Descartes were most actively developed in the teachings of Newton, and later by many enlighteners. The rationalism of Descartes formed the basis of all the rationalism of modern times, but already at the end of the 17th century. in philosophy, the opposite doctrine, sensationalism, is born (for more details, see Scheme 103).

Francis Bacon short biography English philosopher, historian, politician, founder of empiricism

Francis Bacon biography briefly

The English scientist and philosopher Francis Bacon was born on January 22, 1561 in the family of Lord Nicholas Bacon, keeper of the royal seal, viscount, who was considered one of the most famous lawyers of that time. He was a sickly but talented child.

At 12, Francis attended Trinity College, Cambridge. Studying within the framework of the old scholastic system, he already then came to the idea of ​​the need to reform the sciences.

After graduating from college, the newly minted diplomat worked in various European countries as part of the British mission. In 1579, he had to return to his homeland due to the death of his father. Francis, who did not receive a large inheritance, joined the Grace Inn Law Corporation, was actively involved in jurisprudence and philosophy.

In 1586, he headed the corporation, but neither this circumstance, nor the appointment to the post of extraordinary Queen's Counsel could not satisfy the ambitious Bacon, who began to look for all possible ways to obtain a profitable position at court.

He was only 23 years old when he was elected to the House of Commons of Parliament, where he received the glory of a brilliant orator, led the opposition for a while, because of which he later justified himself before the powers that be. In 1598, the work that made Francis Bacon famous was published - "Experiments and Instructions, Moral and Political" - a collection of essays in which the author raised a variety of topics, for example, happiness, death, superstition, etc.

In 1603, King James I came to the throne, and from that moment on, Bacon's political career began to rapidly go uphill. If in 1600 he was a staff lawyer, then already in 1612 he got the position of Attorney General, in 1618 he became Lord Chancellor.

In 1605, a treatise was published entitled "On the Significance and Success of Knowledge, Divine and Human", which was the first part of his large-scale multi-stage plan "The Great Restoration of Sciences".

In 1612, the second edition of "Experiments and Instructions" was prepared. The second part of the main work, which remained unfinished, was the philosophical treatise "New Organon" written in 1620, which is considered one of the best in his legacy. The main idea is the boundlessness of progress in human development, the exaltation of man as the main driving force of this process.

In 1621, Bacon was accused of bribery and abuse. He spent several days in prison and was pardoned by the king, but did not return to public service. After that, Francis Bacon retired to his estate and devoted the last years of his life exclusively to scientific and literary work. In particular, a code of English laws was drawn up; he worked on the history of the country under the Tudor dynasty, on the third edition of "Experiments and Instructions".

During 1623-1624. Bacon wrote the utopian novel The New Atlantis, which remained unfinished and was published after his death in 1627. In it, the writer anticipated many discoveries of the future, for example, the creation of submarines, the improvement of animal breeds, the transmission of light and sound over a distance.
It was Bacon who coined the famous phrase “Knowledge is power”. Bacon died after catching a cold during one of his physical experiments. He died at 66 on April 9, 1626.