The last of the
major seventeenth-century figures who greatly influenced Newton's
intellectual development was Francis Bacon. Bacon was not solely a
philosopher. He was Lord Chancellor under James I, and was an
essayist and moral philosopher who wrote widely about the way he
thought science should be conducted. In his The Advancement of
Learning (1605), The New Organon (1620) and especially The New
Atlantis (1627), he criticised the blind pursuit of Aristotelian
philosophy and the rote- learning system of the universities. And,
most importantly, he was the first to formulate what has become
known as the experimental or inductive method. It was Bacon who,
some time before Descartes dismissed magic and superstition, argued
that scientific discipline should be guided and inspired by
religious motivations. In The Advancement of Learning he
wrote:
"To conclude
therefore, let no man out of weak deceit of sobriety, or an
ill-applied moderation, think or maintain, that a man can search
far or be too well studied in the book of God's word, or in the
book of God's works; divinity or philosophy; but rather let men
endeavour an endless progress or proficiency in both"
Although he would
have agreed with Descartes's dismissal of metaphysics, Bacon
objected to scientific ideas being driven purely by philosophy and
the deductive reasoning employed by Aristotle, which Descartes did
not completely shake off. In effect, Bacon was the first to
conceive of a 'Christian Technocracy'. Quoting Daniel in the Old
Testament, that 'many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be
increased', he envisaged a science driven by religion, guided by
strict logical rules and experimental verification (almost as
modern scientists perceive it) and aimed at enlightenment and
practical applicability. Although Cartesianism provided Newton with
a platform of reasoning about a mechanical philosophy which in turn
led to the Industrial Revolution, it was Bacon's scientific method,
which was readily adopted by generations of natural philosophers,
including Newton, that provided the modus operandi for the
Scientific Revolution.
