Francis+Bacon

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__**Francis Bacon**__


 * Biography **

- Born- York House, London in January 22, 1561 and died in April 9, 1626 - Leading figure in natural philosophy and field of scientific methodology - He was a English philosopher, scientist, jurist and author. He also served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England, however his political career wasn’t successful. He was mostly known due to his works as a philosopher and as a scientist. -"Father of the scientific method," and pioneer of the scientific revolution


 * The scientific method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments.
 * The steps of the scientific method are to:
 * **Ask a Question**
 * **Do Background Research**
 * **Construct a Hypothesis**
 * **Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment**
 * **Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion**
 * **Communicate Your Results**

- Bacon is known as the creator of the empiricism (theory that asserts that the knowledge comes from experience via the senses - Found lacking in Greek philosopher’s work was general theory of science, which could be applied to all branches of natural history and philosophy.

- Renaissance Philosophy (The history of philosophy in Europe), Empiricism (theory of knowledge, knowledge comes only from sensory experience)
 * School of Philosophy **

- Instauratio Magna Scientiarum (Great Restoration of Learning), which was to contain six parts, but he could only complete two of them. - De Augmentis Scientiarum (Of Proficience and Advancement of Learning) -Novum Organon Scientarum (New Instrument)
 * Key works **

- “A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.” - “As the births of living creatures are at first ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time.”
 * Quotations **

- Bacon, with Locke and Hume helped to develop the study of the human mind, how it functions, and how we experience events. The science of psychology is a science that studies the human behavior through observation and experiment, due to the progress of empiricism.
 * Connection with other philosophers **

- His works had great influence in science, with his scientific method, and the empiricism
 * Influence**


 * Gamble Endnotes:**


 * Rationalism vs. Empiricism:** Rationalism connects with Leibniz's analytical reasoning and Empiricism connects with Leibniz's synthetic reasoning. Descartes' Cartesian duality has the same parallels, mind and matter.


 * Scientific Method**


 * Let the evidence speak...don't put words in its mouth.**


 * The warning about "Idols". For Bacon, these idols are** dangerous influences which prompt inaccurate or biased interpretation of the evidence which the scientific method discovers. The idea is that is it a challenge to really just let the evidence tell us what it should tell us. We have certain "idols" which interfere with accurate, unbiased interpretations of the data / evidence.


 * **Idols of the tribe:** common to all mankind (hence "the tribe), these include the tendency to evaluate data or evidence based on feelings, and the ideas and expectations we inherit from our culture, society, upbringing (in "the tribe")
 * **Idols of the cave:** connected to Plato's cave, that is, our own little, shadowy way of seeing / interpreting which are shaped by our own peculiar and individual experiences, and personality.
 * **Idols of the marketplace:** connects with the limitations of language. If I say "dog," for example, I am thinking of a golden retriever, my dog, but you may be thinking of your own chihuahua or beagle. We are both thinking dog, but the thoughts and interpretations are different. Same word, same language, different content. So, our interpretation of evidence can be skewed by language limitations. This will lead to what is now called Derrida's "deconstructionism,"
 * **Idols of the theater:** explains ways in which we can wrongly interpret evidence because we are viewing it through an ideological position or system. If you are a Marxist / Communist, you bring a certain "lens of interpretation" to bear on all issues relating to economics and class conflict. Each of us has "systems" of thought which we adhere to, which we believe in or ascribe to, and these can actually prompt us to misinterpret evidence because we are constantly seeking to "fit" it into our system. It is possible that our system can be flawed, and that we need to go where the evidence leads rather than need to fit it into our system.