NOVUM ORGANUM 



OR 



TRUE SUGGESTIONS FOR THE INTERPRETATION 

 OF NATURE 



PREFACE 



THEY who have presumed to dogmatize on nature, as 

 on some well investigated subject, either from self-conceit 

 or arrogance, and in the professorial style, have inflicted 

 the greatest injury on philosophy and learning. For they 

 have tended to stifle and interrupt inquiry exactly in pro 

 portion as they have prevailed in bringing others to their 

 opinion: and their own activity has not counterbalanced 

 the mischief they have occasioned by corrupting and de 

 stroying that of others. They again who have entered upon 

 a contrary course, and asserted that nothing whatever can 

 be known, whether they have fallen into this opinion from 

 their hatred of the ancient sophists, or from the hesitation 

 of their minds, or from an exuberance of learning, have 

 certainly adduced reasons for it which are by no means 

 contemptible. They have not, however, derived their 

 opinion from true sources, and, hurried on by their zeal 

 and some affectation, have certainly exceeded due modera 

 tion. But the more ancient Greeks (whose writings have 

 perished), held a more prudent mean, between the arro 

 gance of dogmatism, and the despair of scepticism; and 

 though too frequently intermingling complaints and indig- 



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