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All the ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Preface to Great Instauration (Renewal)' and 'fragments/reports'

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5 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy

6602	Philosophy is like a statue which is worshipped but never advances [Bacon]
	Full Idea: Philosophy and the intellectual sciences stand like statues, worshipped and celebrated, but not moved or advanced.
	From: Francis Bacon (Preface to Great Instauration (Renewal) [1620], Vol.4.14), quoted by Robert Fogelin - Walking the Tightrope of Reason Ch.5
	A reaction: Still the view of most scientists, I suspect. Personally I disagree, because I think philosophy has made enormous advances, in accurate analysis of arguments. The trouble is there is so much of it that it is hard to discern, and we don't live long enough.

12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 1. Perception

16724	The senses deceive, but also show their own errors [Bacon]
	Full Idea: It is certain that the senses deceive, but they also testify to their own errors.
	From: Francis Bacon (Preface to Great Instauration (Renewal) [1620], p.32), quoted by Robert Pasnau - Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 22.1
	A reaction: Nice. This is the empiricist view, rather than the rationalist line that reason sorts out the mess created by the senses. Most people know things if you just show them.

13. Knowledge Criteria / A. Justification Problems / 2. Justification Challenges / c. Knowledge closure

20769	Sphaerus he was not assenting to the presence of pomegranates, but that it was 'reasonable' [Sphaerus, by Diog. Laertius]
	Full Idea: When Sphaerus accepted pomegranates from the king, he was accused of assenting to a false presentation, to which Sphaerus replied that what he had assented to was not that they were pomegranates, but that it was reasonable that they were pomegranates.
	From: report of Sphaerus (fragments/reports [c.240 BCE]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 07.177
	A reaction: He then cited the stoic distinction between a 'graspable' presentation and a 'reasonable' one. This seems a rather helpful response to Dretske's zebra problem. I like the word 'sensible' in epistemology, because animals can be sensible.

14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 3. Experiment

6603	Nature is revealed when we put it under pressure rather than observe it [Bacon]
	Full Idea: The secrets of nature reveal themselves more readily under the vexations of art than when they go their own way.
	From: Francis Bacon (Preface to Great Instauration (Renewal) [1620], Vol.4.95), quoted by Robert Fogelin - Walking the Tightrope of Reason Ch.5
	A reaction: This is a splendid slogan for the dawn of the age of science, and pinpoints the reason why we have advanced so much further than the Greeks. You can, of course, overdo the 'vexations of art'. It also justifies the critical approach to philosophy.

21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 7. Art and Morality

468	Musical performance can reveal a range of virtues [Damon of Ath.]
	Full Idea: In singing and playing the lyre, a boy will be likely to reveal not only courage and moderation, but also justice.
	From: Damon (fragments/reports [c.460 BCE], B4), quoted by (who?) - where?