New Organon & Related Writings

by Francis Bacon

Book Overview

2015 Reprint of 1960 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition. Not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. The "Novum Organum", full original title "Novum Organum Scientiarum" or 'new... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067260289X
• ISBN13: 9780672602894
• Release Date: June 1960
• Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Historical Work on the "Scientific Method"

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a Christian lawyer who made his mark on history by writing the "Great Instauration" which included "the New Organon". "The New Organon" (1620) and the rest of the "Great Instauration" was to be one of his last contributions to man and it was to be one of his greatest critiques of knowledge, and it's inefficiency from the time of the ancients til then on acquiring information on natural phenomenon, at the time aside from his other critiques of knowledge such as "The Advancement on Learning" and others found in Francis Bacon: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics). The knowledge that he was critiquing was the knowledge of nature ("Natural Philosophy" was the common term up to the 20th century) or as it is called today, "Science". (the word "Science" comes from the Latin word "scientia" literally meaning "knowledge") "The New Organon" is the "Scientific Method", or inductive reasoning, and its variants. After the publication, knowledge of nature was to be formally derived from experiences of the senses via systematic experiments, systematic inquiry, formation of efficient axioms, and organized to further increase inquiry and increase certainty for controlling and understanding nature. Also, according to Francis Bacon, studying nature and natural phenomenon was fulfilling God's purpose in man and nature - to discover and increase in knowledge, or as he called it, "The Divine Providence". Read Roger Bacon's (1214-1294) Opus Majus of Roger Bacon, Part 1 and Part 2 along with Isidore of Seville's Etymologies: Complete English Translation, Volume I and Volume II and earlier manifestations from ancient sources to see earlier and similar views of "scientific methods" through time. For further research on excellent scientific advancements through time from Ancient to Medieval times please read some primary documents found here: A Sourcebook in Medieval Science (Source Books in the History of the Sciences) and The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam: A Sourcebook and Greek Science of the Hellenistic Era: A Sourcebook. The book includes his vision for the structure of the "Great Instauration", "the New Organon", "Description of a Natural and Experimental History" and "Catalogue of Particular Histories by Title". The eloquent 1863 translation brings out Bacon's original voice with the power and the fury of the philosophers and the Christian rationalists. The New Organon is divided into two books. Here is a summary of what you will find in Bacon's work on the "Scientific Method' and its variants: Book 1 (Basically, Critiques of Knowledge): Critiques of letting pure reason be the guide to acquiring knowledge of nature and redirecting to letting nature be the guide to interpreting nature; consider more than just anticipations in nature; the 4 Idols of understanding that give men false understanding, error, speculation: Idols of the Tribe, Cave, Marketplace, and Theatre (XXXIX-LXII); critique of Aris

The keystone that all critically thinking empiricist must possess!!!

Francis Bacon's "The New Organon" is one of those books that entirely too few people sit down and read. That is a shame becuase if the lessons that he wrote down in this book were to be followed there would be considerably less strife when it comes to figuring out what's science and what is pseudoscience. I cannot state this enough it is a must read for anyone looking to review information on today's most pressing medical/science debates.