登陆注册
14718400000196

第196章

Take, for instance, his Idola Mentis Humanae, or "Phantoms of the Human Mind," which compose the best-known part of the "Novum Organum." "The Idols of the Tribe" would show the folly of attempting to penetrate further than the limits of the human faculties permit, as also "the liability of the intellect to be warped by the will and affections, and the like." The "Idols of the Den" have reference to "the tendency to notice differences rather than resemblances, or resemblances rather than differences, in the attachment to antiquity or novelty, in the partiality to minute or comprehensive investigations." "The Idols of the Market-Place" have reference to the tendency to confound words with things, which has ever marked controversialists in their learned disputatious. In what he here says about the necessity for accurate definitions, he reminds us of Socrates rather than a modern scientist; this necessity for accuracy applies to metaphysics as much as it does to physics. "The Idols of the Theatre" have reference to perverse laws of demonstration which are the strongholds of error. This school deals in speculations and experiments confined to a narrow compass, like those of the alchemists,--too imperfect to elicit the light which should guide.

Bacon having completed his discussion of the Idola, then proceeds, to point out the weakness of the old philosophies, which produced leaves rather than fruit, and were stationary in their character.

Here he would seem to lean towards utilitarianism, were it not that he is as severe on men of experiment as on men of dogma. "The men of experiment are," says he, "like ants,--they only collect and use; the reasoners resemble spiders, who make cobwebs out of their own substance. But the bee takes a middle course; it gathers the material from the flowers, but digests it by a power of its own. . . .

So true philosophy neither chiefly relies on the powers of the mind, nor takes the matter which it gathers and lays it up in the memory, whole as it finds it, but lays it up in the understanding, to be transformed and digested." Here he simply points out the laws by which true knowledge is to be attained. He does not extol physical science alone, though doubtless he had a preference for it over metaphysical inquiries. He was an Englishman, and the English mind is objective rather than subjective, and is prone to over-value the outward and the seen, above the inward and unseen; and perhaps for the same reason that the Old Testament seems to make prosperity the greatest blessing, while adversity seems to he the blessing of the New Testament.

One of Bacon's longest works is the "Silva Sylvarum,"--a sort of natural history, in which he treats of the various forces and productions of Nature,--the air the sea, the winds, the clouds, plants and animals, fire and water, sounds and discords, colors and smells, heat and cold, disease and health; but which varied subjects he presents to communicate knowledge, with no especial utilitarian end.

"The Advancement of Learning" is one of Bacon's most famous productions, but I fail to see in it an objective purpose to enable men to become powerful or rich or comfortable; it is rather an abstract treatise, as dry to most people as legal disquisitions, and with no more reference to rising in the world than "Blackstone's Commentaries" or "Coke upon Littleton." It is a profound dissertation on the excellence of learning; its great divisions treating of history, poetry, and philosophy,--of metaphysical as well as physical philosophy; of the province of understanding, the memory, the will, the reason, and the imagination; and of man in society,--of government, of universal justice, of the fountains of law, of revealed religion.

And if we turn from the new method by which he would advance all knowledge, and on which his fame as a philosopher chiefly rests,--that method which has led to discoveries that even Bacon never dreamed of, not thinking of the fruit he was to bestow, but only the way to secure it,--even as a great inventor thinks more of his invention than of the money he himself may reap from it, as a work of creation to benefit the world rather than his own family, and in the work of which his mind revels in a sort of intoxicated delight, like a true poet when he constructs his lines, or a great artist when he paints his picture,--a pure subjective joy, not an anticipated gain;--if we turn from this "method" to most of his other writings, what do we find? Simply the lucubrations of a man of letters, the moral wisdom of the moralist, the historian, the biographer, the essayist. In these writings we discover no more worldliness than in Macaulay when he wrote his "Milton," or Carlyle when he penned his "Burns,"--even less, for Bacon did not write to gain a living, but to please himself and give vent to his burning thoughts. In these he had no worldly aim to reach, except perhaps an imperishable fame. He wrote as Michael Angelo sculptured his Moses; and he wrote not merely amid the cares and duties of a great public office, with other labors which might be called Herculean, but even amid pains of disease and the infirmities of age,--when rest, to most people, is the greatest boon and solace of their lives.

同类推荐
  • 解厄学

    解厄学

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Myth, Ritual, and Religion-1

    Myth, Ritual, and Religion-1

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 淮南鸿烈解

    淮南鸿烈解

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 和乐天感鹤

    和乐天感鹤

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 又示宗武

    又示宗武

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 落梦之华

    落梦之华

    故事起于那一天,那一场无聊的游戏林枫的人生,也就在那一天发生了翻天覆地的变化,她出现了而对于她,林枫并不讨厌,或许还有点窃喜,直到......某天,她对林枫笑着说道:“我要走了哦~”PS:这是都市文,再说一遍这是都市文,最后一遍这是都市文!{因很重要所以必须说三遍,懂吗!}
  • 真爱米娜

    真爱米娜

    那一年,她爱上了他。一个是校花一个是校草,恋爱的滋味让人神魂颠倒,可忽然他不见了,她崩溃了,绝望中她发现自己怀孕了……………那一年,他爱上了她。一个是校草一个是校花,恋爱的滋味让他如痴如醉,可一场意外,他忘记了她,再次相遇她已是一位妈妈,他们能否再次相爱。整容,失忆再失忆,不怕,失去记忆就再创造,丢了老婆再追回。
  • 误路陌缘

    误路陌缘

    一场事故,让他变成他一对姐妹,入宫为妃究竟是误路还是天意是陌缘还是红线一切,且得慢慢得来。
  • 那年等待错缝花开

    那年等待错缝花开

    恰逢栀子谢,错逢栀子开。“安夏溪,我恨你。”那个她曾经最好的朋友,揉碎了栀子花瓣,笑着扬眉,说出的却是刺骨的话。倘若时光重塑,她是否依然选择走进这个死局。倘若岁月静好,她是否依然选择错过那场花季。当栀子花被染上猩红,支离破碎的心,该怎样重来。如果花落了,泪干了,才知道后悔。如果恨过了,忘记了,一场伤心泪。如果爱够了,痛过了,死又相依偎。——“肖纪哲,愿你在那个世界安好。”
  • 醉美三更时

    醉美三更时

    酒醉,人醉,醉美三更时,,,又是三更时分,又是这柔弱的背影,杜小九再一次摇摇晃晃的回到村子,背后好像传来传来讥笑声,“这小子又喝多了,嘿嘿,,,猴崽子,猴崽子,真不争气,可惜了我的佳酿!”
  • 鬼狐仙怪

    鬼狐仙怪

    本书是属于聊斋志异但与聊斋志异不同的是本书重点讲的是狐仙但偶尔也会有鬼怪来串串客。
  • 御女不淑

    御女不淑

    修成玉颜色,卖与帝王家。可她偏遇见的是一个偏爱英雄,不爱美人的帝王。这是一个本土女与各种穿越﹑重生男女,斗智斗勇,爱恨纠缠的故事。
  • 这些末日不可能

    这些末日不可能

    末日有什么好怕的?不就是门后可能有人头门后可能有女鬼门后可能有坦克吗?刚啊!说不定是你敌人的头说不定是大胸小倩女鬼说不定是宇宙银河终极无敌坦克援军!刚啊!没有梦想和咸鱼有什么区别!刚啊!告诉这个世界,末日来了又怎么样,我……对不起,末日爸爸我错了。
  • 星语混沌

    星语混沌

    无边火海,焚天之炎。五行之泉,五气为先。血冥炼狱,血气滔天。虚空之岛,时转空迁。东海之界,大浪无边。西沙之域,沙暴冲天。南云之界,风云翩跹。北玄之野,陨骨万千。玄茫大陆,天才荟萃,齐聚一堂。外域血族,邪灵恶魂,妄图称王。远古大战,强者齐陨,元气大伤。数百年后,血魔复苏,再度疯狂。且出林辰,窥破天道,历遍苍茫。斩杀血魔,屠尽邪族,天下安康。敬请关注《星语混沌》--------------江南小诺
  • 除魔师之九阳圣皇

    除魔师之九阳圣皇

    世上有妖魔鬼怪你信吗?这也只是人们闲余话点。是真的吗?且看云霄如何走上巅峰之路。