|
Search Inquiry Net
[ Back ] [ Home ] [ Up ] [ Next ]
First Ideas
Idea of Cosmos
Relations of early Christianity
Disputes verbal
Writings of Sebonde
Copernicus, Galileo, Bacon
Inductive & Theological
Philosophy of Montaigne
Bacon (RAW TEXT)
IV-SOURCE
Natural History
Modern Pantheism
Rationalism
Positivism
Recent Natural Theology
Celebrity of Hobbes (RAW)
Conclusion
Scout Books
Site Contents
| |
By Rev. Baden Powell
The views of Bacon and the tendency of his rrinciples of Bacon.
philosophy Iare marked throughout by the elevated nature of their beaxing on
the grounds of religious belief. The same master mind which dictated the more
purely philosophical part of the system, is equally conspicuous in its higher
applications, and especially in the expression of conceptions of the sublime
inferences from the order of the natural I Advancement of Learning, 1605; De
Augmentts, 1623; Novurn Organon, 1620. HISTORICAL SKETCH. [ESSAY 1.11. world. If
we sometimes find such expressions conformed to the ideas or, at any rate, the
language of the age, - as in the instance of the antithesis vf I'Firt4t"
and "Second Causes," referred to as if they were conceptions of the
same kind, -yet in other cases we must recognise views not only in advance of
his age, but eminently capable of instructing the present. His opinion of final
causes', and his often quoted remark,-respecting their barrenness in a
scientific sense and regarding them as not neglected, but 11 wrongly phtced,"-if
properly attended to, would have anticipated and superseded volumes of modern
discussion. While the observation that physical causes do not really withdraw us
from the admission of Divine Providence, is a little vitiated in its free and
full application, when: instead of regarding them as the very exponents of that
Providence, he talks of the belief in it as the last resource, - If ad Deum et
Providentiam. covfu- giant. His admired maxim, that a superficial ilosophy De
Augmentis, lib. UL c. 4. P. 186. ed. 1624. Ibid. p. 189. FISAY 1. § 11. 3
BACON. inclines riaen to atheism, a deeper to religion 1. ap-, plying directly
to the very dubious physics and metaphysics prevalent in his age, has yet a
practical truth in it for all ages, provided men are led to look for that
religion solely in a region beyond that of positive science; not as mixed up
with objects of sense and affections of matter, but as existing in the world of
spirit. And when he pursues the subject further towards indicating the class of
truths to which natural theology'and the use of reason alone are competent to
conduct us, he draws some distinctions which are marvellously in advance of the
speculations commonly current even in later times. That natural light and the
contemplation of the works of creation may teach the existence, but by no means
the nature, wid. still less the will, of the Deity 2 - that no such
investigation can ever bring us to a knowledge of Divine mysteries; - that the
senses perceive qatural truth, but are blind to divine, as the sun lightens the
eaxth, but hides the staxs; " - that natural science is for the de- I De
Augmentis, bk. 1. P. 9. 2 Ibid. bk. L PP. 7, 8. HISTORICAL SKETCH. [ESSAY I §
1V struction of atheism, not the construction of religion I; - that the light of
nature may teach us the Divine power and wisdom, but not the Divine image or
likeness -are propositions which stand the test of the highest advances of
modern philosophy. In defining the respective provinces of reason and of faith,
and urging the importance of keeping them separate, and observing that the
neglect of such distinction leads only to the serious injury and perversion
alike of philosophy hild of religion; -and again, that to derive religion from
philosophy in to seek the living among the dead, to derive philosophy from
religion to seek the dead among the living 2, - lie gives utterance to a lesson
which has been reiterated in vain to successive races of Bible philosophers and
Scripture cosmogonists, Bacon regards the study of the book of nature as
"the true key to that of revelation,"' both as opening "the
intellect to the true meaning of " Scripture from the general rules of
reason and ]BACON- 63 #4 language," and as urging the necessity for
inquiring into its contents. Theseare indeed wide and somewhat vague
expressions, and such as might at the present* day be applied by some to an
extent which, the author perhaps did not contemplate. But in some other points
we still recognise a some lingering predominance of the theological ideas which
cha- influences of dog. racterised the age. When, for example, from the matism.
very just remark that false religions forbid the use of reason while
Christianity encourages it 1, he carries out the use of reason to the
explanatiov, of Divine mysteries, there appears a little inc onsistency with
some of his former admirable distinctions; unless indeed we rest in the
ambiguity of the sentence, and suppose the entire meaning to refer to what he
immediately enlarges on-that all revelation is an accommodation of Divine things
to our finite apprehensions. In one passage indeed Bacon appeart to carry out
the principle of faith to a somewhat strange extreme, when he alleges that 11
the more irrational (absonum) and incredible any divine mystery is, the greater
0 De Augmentis, bk. lit. e. 2. p. 156. Ibid. bk. ix. p. 534. I I Ibid. bk. i. p.
51. I De Augmentis, bk. 1K. c. J. p. 529. 64 HISTORICAL SKETCH. [ESSAY L § M 11
the honour we do to God in believing it, and so 4K much the more noble is the
victory of faith."' Again, admitting that truths of revelation stand
entirely on the basis of that authority, andare thus 11authypostatse," he
contends that reason is yet competent to deduce conclusions logically from them
2 -the very assumption which gave rise t,o most of the preposte rous dogmas of
the scholastic theology. Rather as these truths are not conclusions of reason,
so neither can they fairly be made premises for it. One of the most remarkable
indications of prevalent influences may be not-iced in the instance of the
inquiry - censured indeed by Bacon, if carried out in the spirit of fanciful
speculation, but admitted if kept within sober and rational bounds ,-into the
nature of angels and spirits, as also of demons, with whom are associated, by a
singular analogy, not'only vices in morals, but poisons in physieS.3 In a more
scientific point of view it is also I De Aug. lib. Ix. p. 527. In the earlier
English version 11 On the Advancement," &c. these paradoxical
expressions are omitted. 2 Ibid. P. 530. 3 Ibid. bk. Ill. p. 158. EIIIAY 1. §
11.] BACON. curious to notice the question which Bacon dis- View of the system
of cusses as an exemplification of his method-the the world. truth of the
received Ptolemaic astronomy-distinctly putting it as a point to be inquired
into, and mbiting the argument on the one side, as, -that the motion of the
staxs from east to west is very rapid, in consequence of their distance from the
earth ; that of the outer planets, Saturn and Jupiter, less so; that of the
inferior. planets, still less; that of the atmosphere, though perceptible within
the tropics~ very,little; and by induction, therefore, that of the carth
absolutely nothing 1: while, on the other side, the inquiry is to be diligently
pursued whether fliere are any equally good arguments in favour of the imaginary
hypothesis of Copernicus beyond its simplicity and beauty, which he fully
admits.' Bacon, indeed ~in his "Thema Coeli"), speaks of the fixity of
the earth as that "which seemed to him the more true opinion," though
he, in the same work 3, Nov. Org. lib. ii. § 36, p. 207, ed. 1813. This case
becomes the more interesting to state correctly since it wao misapprehended by
Laplace, who represents Bacon as arguing erclo4sirely in favour of the Ptolemaic
system. - Ezsai Mailos. sur les 1'rob. P. 170, ed. 1814. 1 Thema Coall, ix. p.
253. 66 HISTORICAL SKETCH. [ESSAY 1. § IL~ expressly admits the solar system as
far as the two inner planets Venus and Mercury, yet, in the 11 Descriptio Globi
Intellectualis," dwells on the difficulties with which he conceived the
Copernican hypothesis, attended ; and especially expressed his wish for some
system based on substantial physical grounds, which, doubtless, was not yet the
case with the Copernican.' The direct argument of Gilbert in its favour (11 De
Maguete," 1600), as well as the poetical recommendation of Milton, and, not
least, the amusing paradoxes of Wilkins, tended to open men's minds to the
consideration of so novel a theory in England, before the great movement towards
the end'of the same century. Before the inductive philosophy was established,
and consequently before the grander truths of universal order could have been
thoroughly accepted in all their extent and consequences, it would be vain to
seek for any enlarged philosophical views on the question of interruptions of
the laws of nature. Bacon 2, when he maintains with so much truth that ,
miracles were never wrought to convinc( See Whewell's 11 Hist. of Ind.
Sciences," 1. 386. De Aug. U. ill. cb. 3, p. 156. I Nov. Organ. fl. Aph.
29. ZMAT I. § IT. I BACON. atheists," and assigns as the reason that God's
ordi- Miracles. nary works are sufficient for that purpose, overlooks the more
powerful reason that no miracle could be received at all without a previous
belief in the Divine Omnipotence, even in a very positive and extended sense.
When he adds that miracles were ft)r the conviction of the idolatrous and
superstitious, lie perhaps approaches nearer to the admission of the adaptation
of such evidence to the narrowness aiid ignorance of those to whom it ~ras
addressed. In estimating his opinions on the subject of the supernatural, we
must not omit to remark the caution which be lays down in another place
respecting the strict scrutiny to be used in collecting recorded hi8tances of
marvels, monstrous productions of iiature, and the like. 11 Above all," he
adds, every relation must be considered suspicious which depends in any degree
on religion, as the prodigies in Livy." I On the other side, we must notice
his somewhat far-fetched homage to the miracles of Christ, as having conferred
the highest glory on medicine 1, as I De Aug. tv. 2. ~M 68 HISTORICIL SKETCH.
[ESSAY I. § n. well as his more devout reflections on them in his Meditationes
Sacrea." The inestimable value and importance of the one grand Baconian
maxim, 11 Give unto faith the things which are of faith," and its great
significance in relation to the modern advance in physical gener isation, has
been commented on in former essays. It is to the full and complete realisation
and appli cation of this broad principle that we may look with con6dence for
removing a mass of objections and difficulties from philosophical sources which
have embarramed and obscured Christianity, and have been often held f6rth as
fatal to its cause. Such diffi culties, however, disappear when it it simply con
sidered that, however forcibly urged in reference to matters d sense, properly
subjects of reason, they a" inapplicable when the question is one of faith,
and refers to truths of a totally different order. Bacon's We must not forget to
mention that remarkable I-Confession of Faith." production Bacons 11
Confession of Faith," not pub lished till 1641, fifteen years after his
death; a production which has excited the admiration of the more strict
dogmatists, as exhibiting a remarkable ROSAY 1. § Ir.] BACONTIN PHILOSOPHY. 69
testimony to the orthodox creed. We may remaxk In it, that besides a profession
of belief in the crea~ tion as well as in the Incarnation, the true resurrecw
tion, and visible ascension of Christ, he expressly declaxes that He showed
Himself 11 a Lord of nature in His miracles." It is, however, material to
remark that these declarationsare put forth as articles of faith," which
we must fairly understand, in accordance with his own profound and most
important distinction between faith and knowledge. As to the general tone,
spirit, and character of General character the Baconian philosophy, some degree
of misappre- of the Baconian hension very commonly prevails. By some it is
philosophy. degraded into mere utilitarianism, aiming only at 1)ractical advance
in the arts of life. By others, its . nductive" character, inthe narrow
sense of the tvrm, as opposed to "deductive," has been insisted oil,
but just in the same erroneous light as an (!Xclusively deductive character has
been assigned 14) the Aristotelian system; whereas its founder 4,xl)ressly made
induction of the most primary importance. The. Baconian method is essentially a
410111bination of both processes; and the material disfinction is, that whereas
in the Aristotelian method 72 HISTORICAL SKETCH. tESSAY 1. § It. independent
observation, diligent and accurate col~ lection. of facts. Lingering So deeply
had men's minds been impressed with influence of ancient the peculiaritie-, of
the scholastic philosophy and its oystems. theories, so congenial to men's
fancies, of imagmar occult, and mystic powers and properties in matter, that,
even under the new system, it was long before inquirers could altogether divest
themselves of such conceits; and even to the present day science has hardly
perhaps effectually cleared itself of them to all apprehensions. At any rate, we
trace numerous instances of such influence pervading at least the language of
philosophical writers, if not rendering the conception of better views difficult
and uncon genial. Pbilosopby The state of philosophy in the eaxlier part of the
in the 17th century as seventeenth century, notwithstanding the greatmove-
bearing on theoiogy. ment made by Bacon and Galileo, was by no means as yet such
as to be capable of leading to enlarged views of the great idea of universal
order in nature, even if it could have been considered at all proved in the then
state of discovery. On the other hand, the spirit of technical metaphysics
retained a strong hold on the conceptions, and guided the Rs1AY 1. § rr.j
THEOLOGICAL SPECULATIONS. 73 speculations of philosophers as well ag divines.
Hence, while abstractions of a very recondite kind characterised the theological
disquisitions of some of the keenest intellects of the age, and, in several
cases, led to serious difficulties and objections with reference to the higher
doctrines of revelation, there was little disposition to enter on any kind of
fluestion as to the relations of that revelation to physical truth. Indications
of the tendency of views, in any case, oil the one side, are often to be
collected from writings which obtain repute on the other. Thus we may gain some
notion of the character of scepticism at the period in question from what was
(1011fessedly the standard treatise on the evidences of religion, that of
Grotius "De Veritate" (1627), iii which it is remarkable that, in
respect to miravitlous evidence, while the author dwells largely on testimony,
authority, conformity to the Divine attrihtites, and other like topics, and
combats a variety of'objections, he yet never makes the slightest alluPion to
any influence of physical considerations as affecting the question; and the fact
that his work othould have so long sustained its reputation as the 0 Hugo
Grotius. 76 HISTORICAL SKETCH. [EssAy L arguing downwards to natural causes all
thus link in one chain with the primary influence of presidin supreme
intelligence.' The spirit and tendency of the whole Cartesian philosophy with
reference to theology was suffi ciently marked and peculiar. Descartes totally
re~ jected the study of final causes.' On the other, band, his proof of the
existence of a Deity was of that abstract kind which consisted with his entire
theory; it was the simple existence of the idea of God in the mind; the cause of
which, he argues, can only be its reality; just as he made thought the only
proof of our own existence. Descartes' Again, the philosophy of Descartes was
throughout reception of revelation. preeminently characterised by asserting the
unlimited supremacy of human reason, and the total rejection Descann, in laying
down the primary laws of motion, says : - Atque ex hitc eidem immobilltate Del,
regulm quEedam sive leges natures cognosel poasunt, qnse sunt causm secundari.T
ac particulares I'diversorum m0tuUm quo$ in alligulle corporibus advertimus."
He then proceeds to deduce some of the primary laws of motion and force and
after giving the proof of one part of the theorem of collision of bodies, he
continues, Is Demonstratur etlam pars alters, ex lmmutablII4 11 tate operationis
Del, mundum eadem aftlone qua ollm. creavit continuo "jam conservantis.
"- Principia Milos. p I!. § 37. 1 2 PrIncipia PhIlosophim, pt. 1. § 28.
(1644.) T86AT 1. § 11.3 I)ESCIRTES. 77 of external authority. Yet,
notwithstanding the tuloption of this high standard in philosophy, he professes
an entire acceptance of the mysteries of faith and the truth of revelation as
matters not rognisable to reason; as is abundantly testified by a juLKsage
towards the very commencement of the o4ystematic exposition of his principles;
where he (limtinctly asserts that matters communicated by Divine revelation
ought to be believed, though they may be beyond our comprehension, such as the
mysteries of the Trinity and the Incaxnation, and generally, he adds, that both
in the Divine nature and in creation there may be many things beyond our
comprehension.' In deducing all physical action from the "immutability of
the Deity" and thus making It. equally in its nature invariable, he yet
expressly mlinits an except-ion with regard to 11 such mutations 1 11 Credenda
esse omnla quee a Deo revelata. sunt quainvis captum nostrum excedant. . . . Ita
si forte nobis Deus de Seipso vel. alils aliquid revelet quod naturales ingenii
nostri vires excedant, qualia lain sunt mysteria Incarnationis. et Trinitatis,
non recusabimus ilia credere quamvis non clare intelligamus. Nee ullo modo
mirabimur inulta esse tuni in immensA ejus naturA, tum etiam In rebus ab to
creatis, quaa eaptum nostrum excedant." - Cartesii Princip. Milus. p. 7. 78
HISTORICAL SKETCH. [ESSAX I. asare made in matter, by evident experience or
Divine revelation." Yet in spite of these and the like professions,..~
Descartes, not without reason, from the mere fact of his opposition to the
scholastic philosophy, lived under constant apprehension of persecution from the
ecclesiastical. antl iorities; assailed on all sides by calumnies', and
anathemas I be only escaped actually suffering from the hands of the sacerdotal
functionaries by finding an asylum in the court of Queen Christina of Sweden,
whore, as is well known, he ended his days a victim to the climate. Follower$ Of
The broad profession of faith made by Descartes, Descartes. though supported by
his disciples Malebranebe and De la Forge, was modified by a seasonable degree
of .caution on the part of one of his most eminent followers, Rohault, whose 11
Physics " was long the text-book of the Cartesian doctrine, and who
observes, it is unbecoming philosophers on all occasions I 11rincipia, pL IL 36.
2 In illustration of the kind of accusations which the polemical spirit of the
time brought against the philosophy of Descartes, even among among Protestants,
the reader may refer to Bp. Stillingileet's 14 Origines Sacrze," vol. ii.
p. 417, ed. Oxf. 1797. EnAY I- § 11-1 HOBBES. 79 11 to run to miracles and
Divine power I thus affording at least an indication of the increasing
discrimination of the age as to the proper character and limits of philosophical
investigation.
The
Order of Nature
|
