ROGER BACON THE MAN OF SCIENCE OF NATURE BY SHRIDHAR TILVE NAIK

Are we all Roger Bacon who is trying to adjust our religious conditioning to natural godless reality of knowledge? And if it is so why we are doing it? Is religion coming back in our new culture or was it there waiting for its Godot chance?

These questions are chasing me because it seems in 21st century, religion is emerging once again as political tool to empower the authority and we are puzzled by its spreading influence and its enlarged emergence that is becoming more and more violent day by day. Is it victory of religion or failure of modernity or new revival of hidden faiths that were waiting for right opportunity? Is it comeback of heaven and hell? Are we going to live imaginary life once again in darkness of blind faith?

RELIGION is becoming more important once again and nobody knows how to tackle this monster democratically. Our own liberalism and its structure is delaying course of action against it and by taking full advantage of slow speed of modern social, religion is accelerating its reach everywhere using internet and networks. Modernity in theory is crippled by its own institutional speed of structure and it is bringing management disasters for modernity itself.

How it happened? Are we careless and didn’t recognize it?

The battle between religion and knowledge isn’t new and we can trace its roots in History.

MUSLIMS in attacking form isn’t new to history. “WE ARE BEST” assumption always provides attacking spirit to the valor of human being and Islam is full of it. Before ISLAMIC CONFRONTATION scholastics tried their best to give support to their imaginary hell and heaven by introducing Aristotle in religious discourse but in the end death of PARLOK was bound to happen because reality can’t become backbone of imaginary philosophical concepts.

Though it’s uncertain how much proportion we should assign to oriental and Muslim ATTACK and influence on European culture we must agree that Roger Bacon (1214 to 1294) was the one who brought nature in front of nature and emancipates her from clutches of religion. He was deeply influenced by Ibn Sina and AL HAZEN and often quotes them in his writing.  He was completely ignored in his period and later praised for his selection of science of nature as his priority over church. He is more interested in mathematics and science than theology which was alchemic at that time and related with black magic which helped church to keep surveillance on him.

Science is the system of knowledge which Bacon realized that should work without GOD and ANY SUPERNATURAL. So he consistently tried to forbid an interference of an authority of church in science of nature which always created doubt about him in clerics and they also played their hide and seek game very well hiding him in 14 years imprisonment banning and unbanning his books as per convenience of power politics. He said that theology has surpassed the limits beyond her capacity and supported false claims in history so she should be careful about science. She should learn from firsthand knowledge of revelation instead of second hand sources. He proclaimed that history is still happening and Aristotle isn’t the final authority in field of knowledge.

He underlined the importance of experiment and after that you can experiment and not get arrested in the name of black magic which before Bacon was the common phenomenon.

1 Reason

2 With up to date observation

3 Amplifying experiment

4 employing mathematical method in the operation

This four step method is suggested by him.

Now the doubts about POPE Guy de Foulques who helped him is clear but once there was rumor that POPE was in mood to execute reforms suggested by him . He wrote three books, Opus Majus, Opus Minus, and Opus Tertium. Opus Majus is divided into seven parts:

(I) the causes of human ignorance

(II) The relation of the sciences to theology

(III) Grammar and the power of languages

(IV) Mathematics, including astronomy and Astrology

(V) Optics (perspective)

(VI) Experimental science

(VII) Moral philosophy

For me his light on the cause of human ignorance is more important because it still prevails in our Indian society

Bacon had put light on four causes of ignorance. :

 1 First, the example of frail and unsuitable authority which is consistently happening today and unsuitable political authorities are quoting wrong turns in right zones

2 Second, the influence of custom is too much dominating everywhere and in the name of postmodernism we are celebrating outdated customs.

3 Third, the mob opinion of the unlearned crowd who is creating mob-violence or mob scenes in public without any notice with sudden eruption.

4 Fourth, the concealment of one's ignorance in a display of apparent wisdom. This apparent wisdom with CONCEALED foolishness is projected as drama in media propagating evils over goodness of wisdom.

He stood against these causes of ignorance and provoked others especially his students to stand against authorities who are empowering it. His conditional admiration for Aristotle kept him scholastic throughout his life and probably that is what stopped him to disconnect his soul from church. He talked through scriptures sometimes as if Holy Ghost of religion has captured his neck.

Though, it is known that China invented Gun Powder some historians claimed that Roger Bacon invented it in Europe. (At least formulae of making it)The claim was out rightly rejected by philosophers like Bertrand Russell in his book “History of Western Philosophy ”which now accepted by everybody. But Russell admits that Bacon’s geographical knowledge helped Columbus to explore his destiny. R. Buckminster Fuller credited him the invention of compound glass in his book “critical path ” (page 351 ) which is debatable.

 I think his emphasis on experiment paved the way for scientific experiment though his own exploring of rainbow failed in correct conclusions. In this sense he was the father of European Invention as he innovated the spirit of invention . He made mathematics indispensible and bring EXPERIENCE in the central position of discourses on knowledge counting it as final court. He deepened and enlarged experience in the form of EXPERIMENT. Thus experience, experiment and mathematical mapping became trinity of natural sciences.

Then what’s his contribution? We know that he wasn’t first scientist of England as previously thought (Grosseteste, Robert (c.1170–1253), is the first scientist) but yet we took his cognizance. Why? As Eric Sadbottom puts

“In Part VI of Bacon’s Opus maius – Experimental Science – contains the passages for which he is principally remembered. The various abbreviations used by scribes make it hard for non-medievalists to recognize the key passages.4 P 389 of the 15th Century Digby manuscript in the Bodleian Library in Oxford states: Positis radicibus sapientiae Latinorum penes Linguas et Mathematicam et Perspectivam, nunc volo revolvere radices a parte Scientiae Experimentalis, quia sine experiential nihil sufficientia sciri potest [my emphasis] Having laid down fundamental principles of the wisdom of the Latins so far as they are found in language, mathematics, and optics, I now wish to unfold the principles of experimental science, since without experiment nothing can be sufficiently known. There are two ways of acquiring knowledge, one through reason, and the other by experiment. Argument reaches a conclusion and compels us to admit it, but it neither makes us certain nor so annihilates doubt that the mind rests calm in them intuition of truth, unless it finds this certitude by way of experience. Thus many have arguments toward attainable facts, but because they have not experienced them, they overlook them and neither avoids a harmful nor follows a beneficial course. Even if a man that has never seen fire, proves by good reasoning that fire burns, and devours and destroys things, nevertheless the mind of one hearing his arguments would never be convinced, nor would he avoid fire until he puts his hand or some combustible thing into it in order to prove by experiment what the argument taught. But after the fact of combustion is experienced, the mind is satisfied and lies calm in the certainty of truth. Hence argument is not enough, but experience is.

Bacon is making a point that brings to mind a passage in Ibn Sina’s Qanun, written two centuries earlier, namely: If it is said that some parts of medicine are theoretical and other parts are practical, this does not mean that one part teaches medicine and the other puts it into practice . . . both parts of medicine are science, but one part is the science dealing with the principles of medicine, and the other with how to put those principles into practice.” (see )

For Bacon intelligence is an agent outside the body and belongs to divine and common to all human beings. As every truth belongs to CHRIST whatever truth the agent intellect finds belongs to CHRIST including truth found through natural science. Bacon completely sidelined Aristotle in this way. He was probably the first philosopher who emphatically proclaimed the importance of accuracy of translation vehemently.

Wikipedia gives more credit to Ibn Sina which is historically correct but we must remember that scholastic school has also explored EMPIRICISM much before Ibn Sina. Bacon was uprooting religion much more aggressively than Ibn Sina. As Ralph McInerny says, “Bacon himself would not have been content to bring home half a loaf, but what he had to say about university education in his time had its merit. He saw the danger in a theology unanchored in philosophy and science; he knew the book of the world had not yet been reduced to books. The final irony is that it was likely his abrasive personality more than his ideas that denied him the hearing he craved. ”

(Page 690 A History of western philosophy up to 1300 BY Ralph McInerny)

He was the one who attacked vehemently on popular prejudices and ask his students to question an authority.

Science is not only about scientific knowledge but it’s also about scientific process and I think Roger Bacon initiated scientific process under ream of Religion standing as an outside agent in Religion which was definitely courageous in his time.

Words from Bacon’s Opus maius are inscribed above the entrance to the Daubeny Building of Oxford’s Botanic Garden:

Sine experientia nihil sufficienter sciri potest 

Without experiment nothing can be properly known

That emphasis on experiment is his major contribution. Sometime emphasis works. Roger Bacon is the best example.

SHRIDHAR TILVE –NAIK