Novum Organum

The Novum organum scientiarum (Eng. "New tool of knowledge " ), more specifically De novum organum verulamio scientiarum new in German translation Organon, is the epistemological major philosophical work by Francis Bacon, which was written in Latin and published in 1620 in England. It is considered a turning point in the history of culture between medieval thinking and modern methodological research that is geared towards progress and thus common good.

As the doctrine of idols in 1620 developed in this work of Francis Bacon epistemological concept of empiricism is called. With this procedure, fallacies and naive perceptions of nature are to be avoided. In the scientific sense, the events should be organized cognitively with the aim to understand the world and to develop rules.

The work

The work is essentially determined by numbered aphorisms, which emphasize the need for an unbiased scientific research. Bacon pursued for a great renewal ( Instauratio magna) of Sciences and was directed primarily against Aristotle and the scholastic thinking. With his title Bacon refers to the " Organon " of Aristotle.

In a broader sense, Bacon can be seen as a champion of Enlightenment. It was his concern to fight the Dark Ages and to establish the progress of reason. The human mind should be freed from errors and possible sources of error in order to act properly received. In the first part of the book he has therefore drawn up a veritable theory of self-conscious thought.

The doctrine of idols

Bacon defines idols as " false notions which have already taken possession of by the human mind and deeply rooted in him." Hold the " spirit of the people " hogging. He distinguishes four characteristic idols that prevent them from finding:

"Four types of such idols keep the human spirit trapped ( Quatuor sunt genera Idolorum ... ). I have them because of better representation given names; the first type will be referred to as an idol of the tribe ( idola tribus ); the second as an idol of the cave ( Idola specus ); the third as an idol of the market ( Idola Fori ); the fourth as an idol of the theater ( idola Theatri ) "

Idola Tribus

The idols of the genus or idols of the tribe have with him he an essentialist explanation. The source of error are to be sought after Bacon in human nature itself, in its origin, or the human species. Especially Bacon sees that false, judgment cloudy prejudices from the sensory organs of the human result. Your perception is always done in the context of the restricted, distorted work of the human sense organs. However, this show not nature as it is, but the human perception of shapes accordingly. This type errors come from the nature common to all men. Because we do not perceive the world directly as true as it is, but as our human perception organs they cover. The human mind is reflected only in a distorted way as a curved mirror, the objects.

In the first part of this work, so the chapters with the Aphorisms Aphorisms Concerning the Interpretation of Natureund Kingdom of Man criticized bacon the current state of natural philosophy. The target of his criticism was the syllogism, a method by which he accepted that she was totally inadequate compared to what Bacon called the true induction.

"(...) The syllogism is made ​​up of propositions, propositions of words, and words are markers of notions. Malthus if the notions Themselves ( and this is the heart of the matter) are confused, and recklessly abstracted from things, nothing built on them is sound. The only hope lies in true THEREFORE Induction. Aphorism 14 "

( Translation; mutatis mutandis. Syllogism consists of sentences, sentences from words and words are markers of terms Now, if the terms are even and this is crucial, confused with the words, ie it simply abstracted from things, then this is only therefore, hollow sound. 's only hope lies in true induction. )

Idola specus

The idols of the cave based on individually therefore to be explained brokering, such as education, humor, the misleading dealing with other people as well as books and other intangible assets.

Every man has his peculiar to him, misconceptions more or less strongly influenced mode of conception. Each sits in its own history shaped by his individual prejudices and errors " cave ", in which only clouded and obscured the outside light from entering, as Bacon notes following on Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

Idola Fori

The idols of transport or idols of the market resulting from communication and language problems in human encounters and in the community. Because of words people are " empty and countless disputes and fictions " ( Bacon) deceived.

These cognitive disorders arise out of interpersonal communication. Things must be appointed by the speakers, but results in the easy to misunderstand. Thus, the language itself rapidly from one means of communication to a communication problem.

Idola Theatri

The idols of the venue or idols of the theater arising from philosophical schools, which are also called in Bacon's words, "sects". The idols of the theater lead as dogmas of these schools to false judgments. These prejudices are the ancestral tradition, authority, and the heresies of the past.

For such a kind of traditional misconceptions Bacon held, for example, the overestimation of the purely conceptual dissipative, non-empirical approach in the Aristotelian philosophy ( syllogism ). Making these prejudices by Bacon an unfolding of the mind impossible.

Under the influence of the Novum Organum, which considered Bacon as a hand tool or instrument, took over the science, the method of exact observation and experiment. Here the foundation for the later empiricism is laid.

Expenditure

• Francis Bacon: New organ of Sciences. Übers u ed. by Anton Theobald Brück unveränd. repro graf. Nachdr d ed Leipzig 1830 and Darmstadt 1990, ISBN 3-534-01465-0.
• Francis Bacon: New Organon 1 series. Philosophical Library 400 / a German, Latin, my Felix Verlag GmbH, January 1990, ISBN 3-7873-0757-5.
• Francis Bacon: Novum organum. 1620.