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
learning doorways language
Knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom.
mind path doe
Reasoning draws a conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience.
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.
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.
knowledge math world
For the things of this world cannot be made known without a knowledge of mathematics.
knowledge knowing half
To ask the proper question is half of knowing
language language-learning conquest
The conquest of learning is achieved through the knowledge of languages.
looks world dogma
Cease to be ruled by dogmas and authorities; look at the world!
science mathematics
All science requires mathematics.
half statistics asking
Half of science is asking the right questions.
doubt mind doe
Argument is conclusive, but it does not remove doubt, so that the mind may rest in the sure knowledge of the truth, unless it finds it by the method of experiment.
doubt doe argument
Argument is conclusive, but it does not remove doubt.
science editors ideas
All science requires mathematics. [Editors' summary of Bacon's idea, not Bacon's wording.]
ignorance littles dangerous
A little learning is a dangerous thing but none at all is fatal.