50 



NOVUM ORGANUM. 



LXVII. 



Danda cst etiam cautio intellectui de intemperantiis 

 pliilosophiarum, quoad assensum pnebendum ant cohi- 

 benduin ; quia hujusmodi intemperantise videntur idola 

 figerc, et quodammodo perpetuare, no dotur aditus ad 

 ca summovenda. 



Duplex autcni est excessus : alter corum, qui facile 

 pro)iiuici&amp;lt;utt&amp;lt; et scientias reddunt positivas et magistra- 

 les ; alter eoruin, qui acatalepsiam introduxerunt, et 

 iuquisitioiicm vagam sine termino- 4 . Quorum primus 



-* We have had this tlivision of 

 Philosophic schools in the Preface; 

 see also supr. I. 37. 



By the Dogmatists Bacon means 

 all those who appeal from facts to 

 the Intellect, and who so render 

 Science positive and unchangeable ; 

 not because of its agreement with 

 the facts of the world, but because 

 of its answering to their precon 

 ceived opinions. Of these he con 

 siders Aristotle to have been the 

 great leader ; and after him the 

 Schoolmen, whose Logical Theology 

 he peculiarly disliked, as resisting 

 all improvement and progress. It 

 is cmite true that from his excessive 

 love of System, Aristotle did intro 

 duce much Dogmatism into his 

 works: still we must not forget his 

 constant references to the v\tj of 

 his treatises, and the distinction he 

 draws between those in necessary and 

 those in contingent matter ; in the 

 latter of which (viz. Ethics, Poetics, 

 Rhetoric, and part of his Physics), he 

 appeals to Nature to a certain extent ; 

 though often, it must be allowed, 

 after he had made up his mind as 

 to the Truth. And every one must 

 have felt some anger at his unfair 

 way of setting up objections to be 

 refuted. Still his knowledge of Na 

 ture was deep and wide, and his 



experience very great, and a sweep 

 ing condemnation of him and of his 

 writings is absurd. The Sophists 

 also dogmatised, as too did both 

 Stoics and Epicureans, as Bacon 

 shews, quoting Velleius the Epicu 

 rean, in the Adv. of Learning, Bk. i, 

 p. 52. &quot; Nil tarn metuens, quam ne 

 dubitare aliqua de re videretur.&quot; 

 (Cic. de Nat. Deor. i.) 



From the Sophistic arrogance of 

 Dogmatism, as a reaction, sprang the 

 Pyrrhonist Scepticism, which led at 

 last to the A.KHTu\r)^ia of the New 

 Academy. (See note on I. 37.) 

 Plato, &quot; per jocurn et Ironiam,&quot; or 

 rather, perhaps, Socrates, (for Plato s 

 mind was really more affirmative 

 than negative,) began the Sceptical 

 System. The Sophistical tenets, 

 which combined unbelief, and almost 

 Scepticism, with an immoral ten 

 dency, brought it about. ndi&amp;gt;Tu&amp;gt;v 

 fjitrpov {ivdpwros is a thoroughly 

 sceptical statement, and directly 

 strikes at the whole notion of &quot; Ob 

 jective&quot; Truth. While, on the other 

 hand, Plato s devotion to &quot; Objec 

 tive certainties,&quot; as shewn in his 

 Ideas, in his Mythes, in his grand 

 views as to the Deity, and his utter 

 abhorrence of Physics, tended to 

 bring men to the opinion (already 

 promulgated by the Eleatic school) 



