Interferes not cients. ctures, and Doctrines; and filled with vain Idols, or falfe Notions. Whence this Superinduction of Logic, far from correcting what was amifs, rather fix'd the Errors of the Mind, than open'd a Way to Truth. The only Remedy left is, therefore, to begin the whole Work of the Mind anew; and, from the very firft, never leave it to itself; but keep it under perpetual Regulation, as if the Bufinefs were perform'd by a Machine. And indeed, if Men had fet about mechanical Works, with their bare Hands, unaffifted with Inftruments; as they have ventured to fet about intellectual Works, almoft with the naked Powers of the Mind; they would have found themselves able to have effected very little, even tho' they combined their Forces. If fome large Obelisk were to be raised; would it not feem a kind of Madness, for Men to fet about it with their naked Hands? And would it not be greater Madness ftill to increase the Number of fuch naked Labourers, in Confidence of effecting the Thing? And were it not a farther Step in Lunacy, to pick out the weaker bodied, and ufe only the robust and strong; as if that would certainly do? But if, not content with this, recourfe fhould be had to anointing the Limbs, according to the Art of the ancient Wreftlers; and then all begin afrefh; would not this be raving, with Reafon? Yet this is but like the wild and fruitlefs Procedure of Mankind in Intellectuals; whilft they expect great Things from Multitude and Confent; or the Excellence and Penetration of Capacity; or ftrengthen, as it were, the Sinews of the Mind with Logic. And yet, for all this abfurd Buftle and Struggle, Men ftill continue to work with their naked Underftandings. At the fame time, it is evident, that in every great Work, which the Hand of Man performs, the Strength of each Perfon cannot be increased; nor that of all be made to act at once, without the Ufe of Inftruments and Machines . 3. Upon the whole, Men are here to be reminded of two Things; with the An- (1.) That it fortunately happens, to prevent all Controverfy and Elation of Mind, that the Ancients will remain undisturb'd in the Honour and Reverence due to them; whilft we purfue our own Design, and reap the Fruits of our Moderation. For if we fhould pretend to produce any thing better than the Ancients, yet proceed in the fame Way as they did; we could, by no Art of Words, prevent fome apparent Rivalfhip in Capacity, or Ability: and however allowable this might be, as it is a Liberty they took before us; yet we fhould know the Inequality of our own Strength, and not ftand the Comparifon. But now, as we go upon opening a quite new Way for the Understanding, untried and unknown to the Ancients; the Cafe changes, and all Party and Conteft drops. (2.) See hereafter, Sect. II. Aph. 37. Hence we may learn the Realon of the Tit'e, Novum Organum; tho' doubtless the Author also intended fome Allufion to the Organon, or Logick of Aristotle. The Foundation of the Novum Organum feems laid in this Paragraph; fo that if this be not found just, the Superflructure must fall of course. вода Tribes. (2.) That we are no way bent upon difturbing the prefent Philofophy, or any other that is, or fhall appear, more perfect the common Syftem, and others of the fame Kind, may continue, for us, to cherish Difputes, embellish Speeches, &c. the Philofophy we would introduce, will be of little Service in fuch Cafes: nor is ours very obvious, and to be taken at once; nor tempting to the Understanding; nor fuited to vulgar Capacities; but folely rests upon its Utility and Effects. Let there be, therefore, by joint Philofophers Confent, two Fountains, or Difpenfations, of Doctrine; and two Tribes of reduced to two Philofophers, by no means Enemies or Strangers, but Confederates and mutual Auxiliaries to each other: and let there be one Method of cultivating, and another of discovering the Sciences. And to thofe who find the former more agreeable, for the fake of Difpatch, or upon civil Accounts, or because the, other Course is lefs fuited to their Capacities, (as must needs be the Case with far the greater Number ;) we with Succefs in their Procedure; and they may obtain their Ends. But if any one has it at heart, not only to receive the Things hitherto discover'd, but to advance ftill farther; and not to conquer an Adverfary by Difputation, but to conquer Nature by Works; not neatly to raise probable Conjectures, but to know Things of a certainty, and demonstratively; let him, as a true Son of the Sciences, join Iffue with us, if he pleases that, leaving the Entrance of Nature, which infinite Numbers have trod, we may, at length, pass into her inner Courts. To make our felves ftill more intelligible, we fhall give Names to thefe two Methods of Procedure; and familiarly call the firft the Anticipation of the Mind; and the other the Interpretation of Nature. Work. 4. And now, we have only this Request to make; that as we have Requisites to bestowed much Thought and Care, not only that what we offer fhould judging of the be true; but alfo, as much as is poffible, that it fhould be acceffible to the human Mind, tho' ftrangely befet and prepoffeffed; we entreat it, as a Piece of Juftice at the Hands of Mankind, if they would judge of any thing we deliver, either from their own Senfe, the Cloud of Authorities, or the Forms of Demonstration, which now prevail, as fo many judicial Laws; that they do it not on the fudden, and without Attention; but first mafter the Subject; by degrees make Trial of the Way we chalk out; and accuftom themselves to that Subtilty of Things, which is imprinted in Experience; and, laftly, that by due and feafonable Perfe f Notwithstanding this Diftinction, the Author has been fufpected to oppofe the Ancients : tho' his Defign every where is to make use of all the Affiftance they afford, fit for the Purpose; and to advance the Whole of Philofophy to a greater Perfection. But how few Helps and Materials, for this Purpose, are derivable from the Ancients, is another Confideration. See Supplem. X. and hereafter Sect. IV. See alfo hereafter, Aph. 31, &c. The Author wrote the following Piece twelve Times over, with his own Hand; making 3. it a Rule to revife, correct, and alter it once a Year, till he brought it to the prefent degree of Perfection. And whoever defires to fee how far it was, by this means, improved, may compare it with the Cogitata & Vifa, published by Gruter; which was the rough Draught of the firit Book only, of the Novum Organum; and sketched out, at least thirteen, if not many more, Years before the Publication of this Piece: for Sir Tho. Bodley, in the Year 1607, complains of the Author for having kept it fo long in his Coffer. verance, they correct the ill Habits that closely adhere to the Mind: and when thus they begin to be themselves, let them ufe their own Judgment, and welcome h Tho' this Requeft might be more neceffary, at the Time the Author made it; yet perhaps it is not ftill unfeafonable: for, poffibly, the generality, even of Philofophers, are not to this Day, fufficiently divefted of Preoccupation, Party, and Prejudice, to form a true Judgment of what the Author wrote fo long ago. FH Novum |