The Stagnation of Knowledge

Francis Bacon's works were a reaction to Bacon's view that the progress of knowledge and discovery had slowed down. While it is not clear what, for Bacon, was the 'golden age' of discovery, it is clear that he wanted to end the stagnation of his day. Bacon believed that a number of dogmas or 'idols' held humanity back from basing knowledge on science and building up not only knowledge but a method of discovering move of it.

The stagnation of knowledge was caused primarily by Scholasticism, in Bacon's view. Scholasticism is the philosophy of the followers of St. Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century Roman Catholic philosopher who strove throughout his career to meld Aristotelian philosophy and Christian theology. The resulting mix died down in the centuries after him, but in the 17th century, Scholasticism was making a comeback. Bacon claims that the Scholastics were excessively...