Six Decrees of Francis Bacon Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1623

'De Dignitate et Augmentatis Scientarum' (usually referred to in English as 'Partitions of the Sciences') was published in 1623, and was an expansion of an earlier version, written in English, published in 1605 with the title 'Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning Divine and Profane'.

This work is generally considered the first important philosophical work written in the English language, but Bacon reverted to the traditional Latin for the subsequent major opus. The second part of the 'Instauratio Magna', 'Novum Organum', was actually published in 1620, preceding the Latin version of the first volume.

Answer: Restoration after decay or decline

Not a word in common use today, although perhaps the concept could use with some promotion, instauration refers to repairing something to its original state after it has deteriorated over time. Bacon was referring to the efforts of the Greek philosophers to establish a logical and systematic approach to the understanding of human thought, a lofty goal which he felt had not been achieved because of the limitations of their approach, and subsequent acceptance of its inherent fallacies.

As Bacon says in the introduction, "Being convinced that the human intellect makes its own difficulties, not using the true helps which are at man's disposal soberly and judiciously - whence follows manifold ignorance of things, and by reason of that ignorance mischiefs innumerable - he thought all trial should be made, whether that commerce between the mind of man and the nature of things, which is more precious than anything on earth, or at least than anything that is of the earth, might by any means be restored to its perfect and original condition, or if that may not be, yet reduced to a better condition than that in which it now is."

Answer: False

Bacon only completed (at least in draft form) the first four of the six planned volumes of 'Instauratio Magna' before his death in 1626. We know what he planned, because he started by outlining the proposed structure of his work. Using the Bible's account of God's creation of the universe as a model, he planned to divide his work into six parts, to be followed by a time of rest and celebration when human control over the world had been reestablished.

Answer: Syllogism

Much of classical philosophy was based on deductive reasoning, which involves starting with known (or at least assumed) general truths, and attempts to show that other facts are therefore necessarily true. A syllogism is a simple way of illustrating this. It starts with two premises in the form "A implies B and B implies C", leading to the conclusion that A implies C. Here is an example:
All birds are animals (Bird implies animal)
All animals have fur (Animal implies fur)
Therefore all birds have fur (Bird implies fur)

The problem with a syllogism is that the conclusion is only true if both premises are true. In the example above, the second premise is not actually true, as there are many animals that do not have fur, and birds are one of them. In this case, common experience lets us easily see the fallacy. However, if you replace the word bird with the word cat, the conclusion looks to be true, and it is not so easy to see that the syllogism is flawed by a false premise. Bacon argued that we must base our knowledge on what we can actually observe, and use inductive reasoning to establish general truths. This insistence on starting with observation is the major contribution of the book to the evolution of human thought, and the reason he is often called the Father of Modern Science.

As Bacon described it in his introduction, "For the end which this science of mine proposes is the invention not of arguments but of arts; not of things in accordance with principles, but of principles themselves; not of probable reasons, but of designations and directions for works. And as the intention is different, so, accordingly, is the effect; the effect of the one being to overcome an opponent in argument, of the other to command nature in action."

Answer: Curiosity is associated with the science of religion

It should be noted that Bacon used the word sciences to refer to all human knowledge, not only to those areas which contemporary use of the word would include. Nowadays, the Latin word 'scientia' would usually be translated as knowledge, rather than science. Bacon paid little attention to the science of poetry, before proceeding to divide both history and philosophy up into subcategories.

History is divided into divine history (history of religious thought), human and political history, and natural history (history of things). Similarly, he divided philosophy into divine philosophy, natural philosophy and human philosophy. Natural philosophy was further split into the categories of physics, metaphysics, mathematics (which, somewhat surprisingly, included architecture, astronomy, engineering, geography and music) and medicine. Human philosophy, as he described it, seems similar to what we would now call psychology.

Answer: Aristotle

The work of Aristotle is the classical summary of the deductive logic which Bacon was rejecting in his new approach to analytical thinking. Bacon proposed a methodology of inductive logic, as it is now called. Another significant point in his process was the introduction of the concept of falsification.

In other words, if one states that "All animals breathe air", the truth of the statement cannot be shown by providing examples that are true, no matter how many one may find. However, finding a single counterexample (such as a fish) is sufficient to show that the proposition is false.

Answer: Idols of the Mind - a tendency to daydream

The fourth type of fallacious thought identified by Bacon was Idols of the Marketplace - confusion because of misunderstanding the technical meaning of words, as opposed to their common usage, and because of the inherent limitations in using words to describe abstract concepts. All of these idols contribute to poor analytical thinking, and the development of an inferior understanding of the world. Bacon proposed to counter them by carefully and systematically collecting observations, and looking for the underlying links that would allow one to determine causality.

One of the most commonly cited applications of Bacon's methods is the work of Charles Darwin, in which he started by accumulating massive amounts of information about the variations between closely-related animals, then proceeded to propose a reason why they occurred, leading to the publication of 'On the Origin of Species' in 1859.

Answer: False

The full title of this section, 'The Phenomena of the Universe; or a Natural and Experimental History for the Foundation of Philosophy', makes it clear that Bacon is trying to summarize not only what we know about what he calls 'free nature', but also what can be deduced by conducting experiments and creating human artefacts. According to the introduction of 'Instauratio Magna', "I mean it to be a history not only of nature free and at large (when she is left to her own course and does her work her own way) - such as that of the heavenly bodies, meteors, earth and sea, minerals, plants, animals - but much more of nature under constraint and vexed; that is to say, when by art and the hand of man she is forced out of her natural state, and squeezed and moulded.

Therefore I set down at length all experiments of the mechanical arts, of the operative part of the liberal arts, of the many crafts which have not yet grown into arts properly so called, so far as I have been able to examine them and as they conduce to the end in view." In fact, it is the knowledge of the nature of the universe that can be deduced from experiment which he feels to be the most significant.

Answer: Ladder

'Scala Intellectus' ('The Ladder of the Intellect') was intended to demonstrate how Bacon's methods could be applied, including some descriptions of how he himself had applied them in developing his ideas. He builds on the natural history developed in Part Three, using the methods described in Part Two, to make his methodology clear. The emphasis is on taking it one step at a time, just as one climbs a ladder one rung at a time.

As Bacon describes this section in the Introduction of 'Instauratio Magna', "And now that we have surrounded the intellect with faithful helps and guards, and got together with most careful selection a regular army of divine works, it may seem that we have no more to do but to proceed to philosophy itself. And yet in a matter so difficult and doubtful there are still some things which it seems necessary to premise, partly for convenience of explanation, partly for present use.

Of these the first is to set forth examples of inquiry and invention according to my method, exhibited by anticipation in some particular subjects; choosing such subjects as are at once the most noble in themselves among those under inquiry, and most different one from another, that there may be an example in every kind. I do not speak of those examples which are joined to the several precepts and rules by way of illustration (for of these I have given plenty in the second part of the work); but I mean actual types and models, by which the entire process of the mind and the whole fabric and order of invention from the beginning to the end, in certain subjects, and those various and remarkable, should be set, as it were, before the eyes. For I remember that in the mathematics it is easy to follow the demonstration when you have a machine beside you, whereas without that help all appears involved and more subtle than it really is."

Answer: Active Science

These two sections were never completed. Indeed, the earlier parts were also works in progress, but substantial portions of them were written before Bacon's death. The fifth part, 'Anticipations of the Second Philosophy', was planned to illustrate some of the ideas that could be developed using traditional methods, and not using Bacon's new method.

He thought they needed to be included for completion, as they could, in the future, prove to be valuable. The final section, 'The Second Philosophy or Active Science', was the culmination of the work, but not one that Bacon actually expected to complete.

As he says in the introduction, "The sixth part of my work (to which the rest is subservient and ministrant) discloses and sets forth that philosophy which by the legitimate, chaste, and severe course of inquiry which I have explained and provided is at length developed and established.

The completion, however, of this last part is a thing both above my strength and beyond my hopes. ... And so those twin objects, human knowledge and human power, do really meet in one; and it is from ignorance of causes that operation fails. And all depends on keeping the eye steadily fixed upon the facts of nature and so receiving their images simply as they are."