Roger Bacon, also called doctor mirabilis, was a natural philosopher and Franciscan monk who was regarded as one of the most controversial figures of the thirteenth century. His revolutionary ideas anticipated the intellectual and scientific revolution of the seventeenth century; in other words, he was ahead of his time. Bacon primarily devoted his life to learning languages, mathematics, optics (which was called perspectives) and experimental science. Many science historians consider Bacon's experiments as his greatest scientific accomplishment.
During Bacon's lifetime, university education was dominated by Christian theology, and classical authorities, such as, for example, Aristotle, were accepted only insofar as their ideas could be reconciled with Christian doctrine. Medieval thinkers, who generally dealt with purely speculative issues, paid little attention to the natural sciences, basically relying on known authorities. While Bacon, faithful to the spirit of the times, believed that all knowledge ultimately comes from God, he strongly objected to purely speculative thinking, maintaining that progress in science was impossible without experimentation. In other words, while fully accepting the wisdom found in the Scriptures, Bacon urged philosophers to, so to speak, read the Book of Nature.
Born into a wealthy family in Ilchester, England, Bacon was educated at Oxford. As a student, Bacon was profoundly influenced by Adam Marsh, the mathematician, and Robert Grosseteste, Chancellor of Oxford. During the 1240s, he was in Paris, where he taught in the Faculty of Arts. Bacon had little regard for his Parisian peers. A notable exception, however, was Peter of Maricourt, whose experimental work with mirrors included attempts to produce combustion at a distance. Around 1250, Bacon entered the Franciscan Order and returned to Oxford to teach. By 1257, because of his unconventional ideas, Bacon managed to arouse the suspicion and hostility of his religious superiors. Consequently, he was forbidden to teach or publish his doctrines. Looking for support, Bacon wrote a letter to Guy de Foulques, an open- minded statesman who was interested in his work. In response, De Foulques, who was elected Pope in 1265, naming himself Clement IV, secretly instructed Bacon to write out his ideas. Among the works produced at the Pope's behest was Opus maius, considered his most important book. Unfortunately, Clement IV died in 1268, leaving Bacon essentially unprotected. In 1277, Bacon wrote a book in defense of astrology, provoking the anger of his superiors, who took a dim view of his researches in astrology, alchemy, magic, and perhaps even necromancy. Imprisoned in 1278, he was released in 1292.
In his Opus maius, Bacon presents a comprehensive world view, essentially covering all the areas of intellectual enquiry. Maintaining that the Scriptures contain all of knowledge, he urged scholars read them in Hebrew and Greek, the original languages, instead of relying on translations. While revering the Scriptures as the absolute source of knowledge, Bacon acknowledged the validity of scientific knowledge. The paradigm for scientific knowledge, according to Bacon, was mathematics, toward which, he believed, the human mind has a natural inclination. Exemplifying his interest in natural science, Bacon's book also contains a detailed discussion of optics. Since medieval scientists did not divide natural science into separate disciplines, Bacon's discussion of optics also includes a description of the anatomy of the eye.
While never doubting that nature was created by God, Bacon, did not hesitate to formulate his own general theoretical framework for natural science. Essentially, he believed that natural phenomena occur as a result of seminal reasons, creative forces which determine the development of the universe. Originally developed by the Stoic philosophers in Greece, the doctrine of seminal reasons was accepted by St. Augustine, also influencing other medieval thinkers, including St. Thomas Aquinas. In some ways futuristic, anticipating the triumph of empirical science in the distant future, Bacon's philosophy also has profound roots in classical philosophy and Christian theology. He is buried at Oxford, in the Franciscan Church.
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