Bacon, Roger

« Bacon, Roger Associated with both the University of Paris and Oxford University, Roger Bacon was one of the first in the Latin West to lecture and comment on Aristotle 's writings on subjects other than logic.

After he came to know Robert Grosseteste 's work in natural philosophy, he became the advocate of a curricular reform that emphasized scientific experiment and the study of languages.

His views were often unpopular, and he constantly belittled all who disagreed with him. Bacon's work in logic and semantic theory had some influence during his lifetime and immediately after his death. His work in science, however, had little impact.

His renown in the history of science is due in part to his being viewed as a precursor of the Oxford Calculators, who in turn anticipated certain important developments in seventeenth-century science. 1 Life Bacon was born into the minor nobility in Somerset, England.

By the time of his death, he had earned the honorific title Doctor mirabilis (the Marvellous Doctor) for his prodigious learning in every area of philosophy.

He had trained in the Latin classics before attending Oxford University and the University of Paris, and he was Master of Arts at Paris by 1237.

At Paris between 1237 and 1247, Bacon wrote his Sumule dialectices (Brief Summaries of Dialectic) and Summa grammatica (Synopsis of Grammar) , and lectured on Aristotelian works, including the Metaphysics and Physics as well as the pseudo-Aristotelian De plantis and Liber de causis (see Liber de causis ). During this period, Bacon became intensely interested in another pseudo-Aristotelian text, Secretum secretorum (Secret of Secrets) , which was thought to have been written by Aristotle for his pupil Alexander the Great.

In addition to instruction on kingship, the text contained occult lore ranging from astrology and numerology to the magical medicinal properties of plants, and an account of a unified science supposedly transmitted to Aristotle by God through the Hebrews and Egyptians.

According to the treatise, this unified science could be recovered only by those intellectually and morally fit for it. Bacon was so moved by the vision of knowledge revealed in the Secretum secretorum that in 1247 he left his teaching position at Paris, moved back to Oxford and spent the next ten years attempting to realize that vision.

His efforts were concentrated on language, mathematics and experimentation because he believed that one could decipher Aristotelian texts only if one understood the nature and nuances of the language in which the texts had been written, or into which they had been translated.

He also believed that the study of mathematics (including geometry and astronomy), along with experimentation, provided the key to the sciences.

His efforts proved to be physically, emotionally and financially draining. In 1257 Bacon entered the Franciscan order, hoping to find respect for his work and funds for his scientific instruments.

Finding neither, he became embittered, and at every opportunity he railed against those of his. »