Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
Birthday: 22 January
Not to be confused with Roger Bacon (1214–1294).
- Once upon a time, there was a man who was convinced that he possessed a Great Idea.
- Indeed, as the man thought upon the Great Idea more and more, he realized that it was not just a great idea, but the most wonderful idea ever.
- The Great Idea would unravel the mysteries of the universe, supersede the authority of the corrupt and error-ridden Establishment, confer nigh-magical powers upon its wielders, feed the hungry, heal the sick, make the whole world a better place, etc., etc., etc.
- The man was Francis Bacon, his Great Idea was the scientific method, and he was the only crackpot in all history to claim that level of benefit to humanity and turn out to be completely right.
—Yudkowsky
It was actually Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham (965–1040) (known in English as Alhazen), who invented and demonstrated the scientific method while working with optics. He was likewise aware of its importance, but was unknown in the West, so Francis Bacon gets credit for reading about him and popularizing the idea. It's worth noting thta Bacon was quite open about where he got the idea, but the English were not so interested in paying attention to some Arab.
I infer that when it was Bacon's turn to talk about the scientific method, it took root in the West because there was a fertile cultural environment for it, as Yuval Noah Harari describes in Sapiens: A History of Humankind.
Some quotes
“Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.”
“The general root of superstition : namely, that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.”
“If we are to achieve things never before accomplished we must employ methods never before attempted”
“Philosophy when superficially studied, excites doubt, when thoroughly explored, it dispels it.”
What links here
- Speech about Humankind – devel
- Meta-science
- Timeline of people born