Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon, OFM, also known by the scholastic accolade Doctor Mirabilis, was an English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empirical methods. In the early modern era, he was regarded as a wizard and particularly famed for the story of his mechanical or necromantic brazen head. He is sometimes creditedas one of the earliest European advocates of the modern scientific method inspired by Aristotle and by later scholars such as the Arab...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPhilosopher
knowledge knowing half
To ask the proper question is half of knowing
knowledge math world
For the things of this world cannot be made known without a knowledge of mathematics.
education two doubt
There are two modes of knowledge: through argument and through experience. Argument brings conclusions and compels us to concede them, but it does not cause certainty nor remove doubts that the mind may rest in truth, unless this is provided by experience.
crazy writing men
A man is crazy who writes a secret in any other way than one which will conceal it from the vulgar.
queens science goal
The strongest arguments prove nothing so long as the conclusions are not verified by experience. Experimental science is the queen of sciences and the goal of all speculation.
ignorance learning science
Neglect of mathematics work injury to all knowledge, since he who is ignorant of it cannot know the other sciences or things of this world. And what is worst, those who are thus ignorant are unable to perceive their own ignorance, and so do not seek a remedy.
ignorance prejudice four
There are four chief obstacles in grasping truth ... namely, submission to faulty and unworthy authority, influence of custom, popular prejudice, and the concealment of our own ignorance accompanied by an ostentatious display of our knowledge.
mind path doe
Reasoning draws a conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience.
learning doorways language
Knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom.
art moving men
First, by the figurations of art there be made instruments of navigation without men to row them, as great ships to brooke the sea, only with one man to steer them, and they shall sail far more swiftly than if they were full of men; also chariots that shall move with unspeakable force without any living creature to stir them. Likewise an instrument may be made to fly withall if one sits in the midst of the instrument, and do turn an engine, by which the wings, being artificially composed, may beat the air after the manner of a flying bird.
inspirational two doubt
There are two modes of acquiring knowledge, namely by reasoning and experience. Reasoning draws a conclusion and makes us grant the conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, nor does it remove doubt so that the mind may rest on the intuition of truth, unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience.
giving devil impossible
It is not necessarily impossible for human beings to fly, but it so happens that God did not give them the knowledge of how to do it. It follows, therefore, that anyone who claims that he can fly must have sought the aid of the devil. To attempt to fly is therefore sinful.
men bishops one-man
One man alone had really known the sciences, namely, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln.