OhioLINK History of Philosophy Website
Professor Gayle Ormiston
1. What is a "proem"?
2. What is an "instauration"? and why is Bacon's "great"?
3. According to Bacon, "the human intellect makes its own difficulties, not using the true helps which are at man's disposal..." What are the "true helps" Bacon alludes to in the opening lines of the proem?
4. Why does human knowledge require a new foundation? what is so bad about its former foundation? What is a foundation? an instauration?
5. Is Bacon looking to provide a new foundation to knowledge or is he looking to reconstruct the knowledge of science, art, and philosophy? What is the difference between a reconstruction and providing a new foundation?
6. How will "experience" provide the foundation Bacon seeks?
7. See p. 7. In what ways does the opening paragraph remind you of the Plato's Republic?
8. In what ways do the "mechanical arts" promote intellectual growth according to Bacon?
9. How have science and philosophy been limited by opinion and custom?
10. What is the aim of knowledge, according to Bacon? See especially p. 15. Does Bacon differ from Plato's Socrates in this respect? If so, say how? If not, say way not?
11. What is an experiment? Why does Bacon place such emphasis on experimentation?
12. Explain the following comment found on p. 12: "But the universe to the eye of the human understanding is framed like a labyrinth..."
13. What role do the senses play, for Bacon, in the creation of "knowledge"?
14. What requests does Bacon make of those men who might read his work? How do these requests set Bacon apart from other philosophers, according to Bacon?
15. The New Organon would have been the second Part of Bacon's "Great Instauration." According to Bacon, the new organon was to equip man "for passing beyond." Beyond what?
16. List the more salient features of The New Organon as envisioned by Bacon (see pp. 18-23.).
a .17. What is an idol? Why does Bacon spend time talking about the idols that occupy the mind? Using Bacon's discussion as point of departure, list some idols that occupy your mind today or that you think occupy the minds of individuals today.b.
c.
d.
e.
B. Preface
1. What is the subtitle of NO? How does the subtitle set NO apart from previous forms of philosophy or scientific inquiry?
2. How does Bacon's desire to establish "progressive stages of certainty" differ from the dogmatism of faith and the skepticism of "science"?
3. What is a method? Why are "methodological" concerns important in Bacon's text? How does a difference in method constitute a difference in how the "nature" and "man" are understood?
4. Again, what kind of "helps" or "aids" does the understanding need according to Bacon? On what sort of helps, aids, or props do you depend in your own inquiries? How can such aids or props arrest inquiry as well as stimulate inquiry?
5. Bacon calls himself a "guide." SO what?
6. What is the method of cultivation? What is the method of invention? How, according to Bacon, are these two methods suppose to work together?
7. For Bacon:
anticipations of the mind=?C. Aphorismsinterpretation of nature=?
1. What is an aphorism? Why would Bacon choose this particular way of writing? How might the aphorisms be seen as aids of "helps" about Bacon speaks so often?
2. According to Bacon (and recall Plato's Socrates), how do the senses, or how does sensible apprehension of the world, stimulate understanding or reason (see aphorism II)?
3. What is an axiom? Why are axioms needed, according to Bacon?
4. A syllogism is a kind of argument, an argument form. What are the elements of a syllogism, as you understand them from Bacon? Can you provide an example of a syllogism or, more generally, an argument? Are arguments provided--always--to generate assent to a particular position? For-whatother- purposes can arguments De used? inquiry?
5. What is "true induction"? To what is true induction compared in Bacon's text?
6. According to Bacon, philosophy and science need a new "foundation," a new method? Why? What was so bad about the old foundation or method? How is the old method or foundation for knowledge described by Bacon?
7. See XIX: what are the two ways of searching for the truth described here? Both forms of inquiry can be said to be kinds of induction. To what is induction opposed?
8. How do these two methods differ? Does Bacon prefer one over the other?
9. Which of the two methods described in XIX-XXII falls under the heading, ANTICIPATIONS OF NATURE? and which falls under the heading, INTERPRETATION OF NATURE?
10. Say what the difference is between
(a) an anticipation11. What are the differences between the four Idols that "beset men's minds"? See XXXIX-LX.(b) an interpretation
i. Idols of the Tribe (true believers in the Cleveland Indians?):12. Other questions you may have regarding Bacon's NO?ii. Idols of the Cave
iii. Idols of the Market Place
iv. Idols of the Theatre
Book II. "Interpretation"
1. Consider the following: perception, conception, and interpretation. How do they differ? How are they similar? Of difference do these three capacities make in Bacon's NO?
perception2. What is the task of interpretation with respect to:conception
interpretation
(a) "a given body"3. List the kinds of "causes" discussed by Bacon but taken from Aristotle?(b) "a given nature"
(a)4. What does Bacon refer to when he talks about "forms"? Is he bringing back the Forms of Plato? See pp. 122-23. How is a "form" like or unlike a category?(b)
(c)
(d)
5. The "transformation of bodies" =?
6. latent process=?
latent configuration=?
7. Match these:
i. __ physics a. efficient cause and matter ii. __ metaphysics b. forms c. mechanics d. Magic8. According to Bacon, the interpretation of nature will embrace two basic divisions. What are these divisions and what are the sub-divisions for each major part?
9. If you follow the steps for experimentation Bacon delineates in Book II, what would you be doing?
i.10. What are the three tables Bacon presents in Book II? Why are they called "the Presentation of Instances to the Understanding"?ii.
iii.
iv.
11. What are some examples provided by Bacon of the "exclusion" or "rejection" of natures by the Tables of Presentation?
12. What is more important here: what exact items are excluded or the process by which the exclusion is reached? or decided? Why?
13. what has induction to do with the process of exclusion?
1. One way of stating a central theme of NO is to say the interpretation of nature proceeds or grows, our knowledge of the world and ourselves grows, through the presentation of INSTANCES to the understanding. Bacon utilizes three tables (of "first presentation") as "helps" for the presentation of instances: the tables of essence, proximity, and degree. Explain each.
Table of Essence2. Now, following your review of the first tables of presentation, state Bacon's definition of the following terms and phrases. Translate into your own words, noting what is lost or gained in the translation.Table of Proximity
Table of Degree
This page is part of the OhioLINK History of Philosophy Instructional Website designed and developed by the Department of Philosophy at Kent State University. We are interested in any comments you may have concerning this Micro Writing Exercise. Send e-mail to the KSU Department of Philosophy Instructional Website Development Team or directly to Professor Gayle Ormiston, who designed this exercise.
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