Thoughts on Novum Organum

I don't know what happened to my last posts. I hope this works. On Thursday, during my online class, we began to discuss Novum Organum. We just got through the first aphorisms. This has been a very slow process to get through this book.

The summary for today's reading:

There needed to be restoration of science in his day. Science being knowledge. The problem with science in our day is that what is being imparted to us through the media is not science. Take the recent Swine Flu scare. While there may have been concern, it need not have bordered on hysteria. The information being disseminated to the public was not based on true scientific findings.

Bacon pointed out that there needed to be debate and supposition in some science in order to bring us to the right conclusions. While we are just beginning to know and understand viruses, there is certainly a call for debate on what the Swine Flu was going to do. However, I am not sure that the place for such debate is in the media. The debate over the Swine Flu in the media did not lead us to further understanding of the Flu.

Bacon also asserted that we base our current knowledge on knowledge gained from past experience and thought. In the case of the Swine Flu, I remembered getting the Flue shot in 1978 during the last outbreak and received the flu from the shot. So, my experience did not support the current thinking on the outbreak.

However, this has a broader application than just in science. We base our judgments and decisions on past experience. Which is a challenge for long term relationships, we tend to base our responses on past experience and not what is before us in the present.

The last aphorism for today was Aphorism 39. Bacon discusses the four kinds of idols besetting mankind. He named the idols of the Tribe, Cave, Market-place, and Theatre. Idols being were we spend our focus and the concentration of our thought. The Idol of the Tribe has to do with exaggeration, distortion, and disproportion to our thinking. The Idol of the Cave has to do with a reference to the Allegory of the Cave by Plato. The cave represents our minds and thinking. If we concentrate on only one branch of learning, we tend to define everything by that branch of learning. The Idol of the Mareket-place has to do with out talking our opponents and therefore, we be believe we have one the argument. The Idol of the Theatre is accepting other peoples beliefs as our own without thinking about what we are accepting. These idols are certainly prevalent in our thinking today and they are what slow us down as individuals and as a society.

Not that I believe that we should challenge every single thing we hear, but I believe that we do not spend enough time in thinking about our lives. I find it very difficult in my life to find time for the "refreshing pause" of thinking. I will assume that others have that challenge.