![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() These philosophers explored the problem through predication. The problem of universals is considered a central issue in traditional metaphysics and can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle's philosophy, particularly in their attempt to explain the nature and status of forms. Philosophers agree that human beings can talk and think about universals, but disagree on whether universals exist in reality beyond mere thought and speech. Many properties can be universal: being human, red, male or female, liquid or solid, big or small, etc. Further, if two daughters can be considered female offspring of Frank, the qualities of being female, offspring, and of Frank, are universal properties of the two daughters. As an example, if all cup holders are circular in some way, circularity may be considered a universal property of cup holders. Universals are qualities or relations found in two or more entities. The problem of universals relates to various inquiries closely related to metaphysics, logic, and epistemology, as far back as Plato and Aristotle, in efforts to define the mental connections a human makes when they understand a property such as shape or color to be the same in nonidentical objects. ![]() There is no mistaking its religious import when Bacon contrasts "Idols of the human mind" with "ideas of the divine": in language evocative of Neoplatonic cosmology, Bacon implies that "ideas of the divine"-forms of nature conceived in the mind of God and left as traces or signatures of his divine authorship on "created things as we find them"-register as "idols" in the human mind, false appearances or distortions of perceived reality that falsely picture nature just as an idol falsely pictures deity.The problem of universals is an ancient question from metaphysics that has inspired a range of philosophical topics and disputes: Should the properties an object has in common with other objects, such as color and shape, be considered to exist beyond those objects? And if a property exists separately from objects, what is the nature of that existence? (5)īut in the post-Reformation, iconoclastic context of late sixteenth-century England, "idol" is not a neutral term. (4) This persistence is perhaps nowhere clearer than in the tendency to regard Bacon's usage of the word "idol" as a form of metaphorical displacement from religious to secular discourse, which invariably represses its religious connotations: taken metaphorically, Bacon's idols have little or nothing to do with the Protestant critique of idolatry. Jones, voicing what was until recently a commonplace of Bacon scholarship, once argued that Bacon insists on an "emphatic separation of science and religion." (3) In spite of recent efforts to reconceive Bacon's view of science as formatively shaped by his religious context, an attenuated form of Jones's assertion persists in general histories of science and religion, in which Bacon still figures as a secular and secularizing force. Francis Bacon, Advancement of Learning (1605) (1)įrancis Bacon's Doctrine of Idols is one of the best known and most cited parts of his philosophy, but while thoughtful reflections on the terms "tribe," "cave," "marketplace," and "theater" populate academic literature, surprisingly little attention has been paid to Bacon's peculiar choice of the word "idol" (82-95). Only by avoiding the "idols " of scholastic philosophy, in the study of nature as in the study of scripture, Bacon argues, can we properly "inquirle]" into "divine truth."īUT as in the inquirie of the diuine truth, their pride enclined to leaue the Oracle of Gods word, and to vanish in the mixture of their own inuentions: so in the inquisition of Nature, they euer left the Oracle of Gods works, and adored the deceiuing and deformed Images, which the vnequall mirrour of their owne minds, or a few receiued Authors or principles, did represent vnto them. Bacon's "idols" of the mind are frequently cited, but discussion of the idols tends to focus on the metaphorical terms "tribe," "cave," "marketplace," and "theater." Less consideration has been given to his use of the term "idol." To understand his doctrine of idols requires that we contextualize Bacon's work within the history of early modern religious reform: just as Luther had argued for a reformed method of scriptural interpretation, so Bacon argues for a reformed method for the "Interpretation of Nature." Bacon's innovations in the study of nature-his theory of forms and method of induction-extend the project of reform to the study of nature through the logic of a longstanding metaphor connecting the Book of God's Word to the Book of his Works. ![]()
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