Chapter 2

Question 1

Novum Organum

Answer 1

(New Method) - philosophical essay by Francis Bacon (empiricist)
- ‘Plus ultra’
- science would go far beyond limitations
- providing a new compass that would guide a ship of science to new and unsuspected discoveries
- science would no longer rely on faith, the theological canon, and church authority, but would instead be guided by observation and experiment

Question 2

Ockham’s razor principle

Answer 2

when confronted with two different, but equally satisfactory explanations of some phenomenon or event, we should choose the ontologically more ‘parsimonious’ (economical) one.
e.g. a driver who survived a crash - two explanations:
1) he had a good airbag in the car
2) he had a good airbag and a guardian angel
Ockham’s razor says that of course 1) cause more economic explanation

Question 3

The Aristotelian medieval worldview

Answer 3

Aristotle believed that the Earth was heavy and mobile, placed at the center of the universe, and the cosmos surrounding the earth was made up of crystalline spheres to which planets and stars were attached.
Two different realms:
1)Superlunary/ celestial region - (the area from the moon outward) - everything is eternal and perfect, things move in perfect circles
2) Sublunary/ terrestrial realm - (area between earth and moon) - things are corruptible and perishable. There are elements that come to being, exist for a while, and then die and decay - they go straight in line and then halt.

Question 4

Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)

Answer 4

• Tabula Rasa (Aristotle) was far too simplistic - the mind has lots of views that are actually distorted
• science starts with collecting as much data as possible, applying the principle of induction, and concluding with the empirical generalization
• one must also purge the mind of “idols” - characteristic errors, deceptions, and sources of misunderstanding or false ideas
• 4 idols of the mind
• the analogy of insects (bees, ants and spiders)

Question 5

1) Idols of the tribe

Answer 5

endemic to the human tribe (innate and therefore shared by all humans), our senses prone to make mistakes, jump to premature conclusions, and stick to them, we forget to look critically at the theories we hold dear, even when damning evidence is abundant

Question 6

2) Idols of the cave

Answer 6

false ideas in our minds that are the result of
the fact that we are educated (or brought up) in a certain
way

Question 7

3) Idols of the marketplace

Answer 7

distorted beliefs rooted in language; result of the fact that we’re using language as a communication tool, we are sometimes trapped in presuppositions hidden in linguistic expressions

Question 8

4) Idols of the theatre

Answer 8

includes the accepted dogmas and methods of old schools of thought

Question 9

Deduction vs. Induction

Answer 9

Until the end of the 16th century, the old Aristotelian, deductive logic was firmly in place. The truth of the conclusion in a deductive argument derives from the truth of the premises; the content of the conclusion never goes beyond the content of the premises. The new tool for investigating nature, as envisioned by Bacon, is the method of induction. Scientists must gather enough empirical data as possible as the basis for proceeding to formulate theories.

Question 10

The analogy of insects

Answer 10

Describes the ideal scientific endeavor. Rationalists - spiders who weave a web of their own substance. Empiricists - ants that merely collect and use. Bacon says that one should aspire to be like the bee, which is a bit of both. It gathers the necessary materials from the flowers etc. but transforms and digests it by a power of its own. Likewise should be the endeavor of science/philosophy. According to Bacon, we must rely on a combination of both: we must not be naive empiricists nor naive rationalists.

Question 11

Scientific Revolution

Answer 11

5 aspects of the Scientific Revolution
1) rejection of the method of authority
2) empirical observation over (possibly) faulty reasoning
3) application of induction
4) stimulating the use of the experiment
5) Rediscovery of mathematics as a tool for
building models
- Copernicus - heliocentric theory
- Galileo Galilei - moon’s surface is not smooth, Jupiter has 4 moons and observed Venus’s phases -rejecting geocentric theory
- Johannes Kepler - three laws of planetary motion, Mars’s orbit is elliptical
- Isaac Newton - “Plilosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica” -mathematical system of the universe, three laws of gravitation