CHAPTER II 



THE CONFLICT OP OLD AND NEW IDEAS 



The new philosophy, as an intellectual impulse, entered all aven 

 ues of thought, but not without opposition. It was challenged in 

 turn by prejudice, inherited belief, and accepted authority. Bacon 

 had early bid defiance to the scholastic authority; "the real begin 

 ning of English philosophy is to be dated from Bacon's break with 

 scholasticism". 1 But to carry on the struggle to certain victory 

 was left to his disciples. The second step was for the new^science 

 to free itself from the domination of theology, "to assert the free 

 dom of the scientific intellect". This was done by the valiant 1 ; 

 little group of men at Gresham College, who formed the nucleus 

 of the Royal Society. They pledged themselves to avoid the prob 

 lems of "Divinity, Metaphysicks, Moralls, Politicks, Grammar,; 

 Rhetoric, and Logic"; 2 they "set themselves to read in the Great 

 Book of Nature, to walk in its Garden and taste its plenty, in 

 stead of idle talking and wandering." 



With their field of inquiry thus bounded and with their ' ' reason 

 free and unpossest", the new philosophers were ready to search for 

 the truth by means of experiment and observation, and to lay the 

 broad foundations for the new natural history of the world. The 

 reward of their effort was almost instantaneous; flushed with the 

 triumph of discovery, they entered the "wonderland of modern 

 science ' ' as revealed by the telescope and the microscope. And they 

 naively expressed their hope that "as new Light comes in, the old 

 Hypotheses will fall without noise". 3 But this was, of course, 

 psychologically impossible, for old hypotheses, especially those 

 which concern personal faith, do not yield in silence. "The grad 

 ual ebbing of an ancient faith leaves a painful discord between 

 the imagination and reason. The idols gradually lose their sanc 

 tity; but they are cherished by poets long after they are disowned 

 by philosophers, and the poet has the greatest immediate influence 

 with the many." 4 It is this "painful discord" in the period of 



1 Seth, James, English Philosophers and Schools of Philosophy, p. 10. 

 2 Wallis, John, Account of Some Passages in my Life, 1696. 

 Wotton, William, Reflections, p. 364. 

 4 Stephens, Leslie, History of English Thought, vol. I, p. 16. 



