I’ve been reading A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. One chapter is devoted to Francis Bacon (1561–1626). Bacon was a philosopher and a scientist.
As such he built on the work of predecessors as far back as Thales, Pythagoras, and Aristotle in ancient Greece. Bacon also owed much to Roger Bacon (1214–94), William of Occam (1287–1347), Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), and Nicolaus Copernicus (1479–1543).
Although the origins of science are hazy and disputed, many scientists credit Francis Bacon with formulating the modern scientific method of induction. Such praise would have shocked him.
Bacon was critical of the philosophers and scientists of his day. Scientists, he thought, spent too much time admiring their fabulous collections. Philosophers, he thought, spent too much time admiring their clever syllogisms.
(Pardon the interruption, but had women been included in the domains of science and philosophy from the beginning there never would have been such a disconnect from reality. But I digress. Let’s allow Bacon to finish his thought.)
What was needed, he thought, were practical people who translated knowledge into useful products. Thus, he offered an allegory of sorts in Novum Organum (1620).
Here’s my paraphrase.
Some people are like ants, some like spiders, some like bees. Ants travel along the highway of life collecting tidbits to take home. Spiders spin webs from their own inner resources and get nowhere. Bees flit from flower to flower gathering nectar and convert it into honey for others to enjoy, including humans.
(With all due respect to Bacon, I’m certain that no bee at no time in no place ever considered humans as beneficiaries of its work. But we can let that anthropocentric egotism go for the sake of the following moral.)
There’s nothing wrong with collecting tidbits of news and information here and there like an ant. There’s nothing wrong with spinning beautiful webs of self-delight and wonder from your inner resources like a spider. But if you want to be someone who benefits others, be a bee. Turn thistles into honey.
Scientists heeded Bacon’s advice. Soon science replaced the church as the bestower of salvation. Priests might transform bread and wine into “the body and blood of Christ,” but scientists transform facts and theories into medicine, vaccines, prosthetics, electricity, high-yield crops, solar panels, and GPS.
That’s honey!
And that’s only a sample.
What else has science brought?
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See Paula’s “Clematis and White Poppies in Ice” on the home page.
What has science brought?
Life. By way of chlorinated water, which has saved more human lives than anything in the history of the world.
Death. By way of fentanyl, one recent seizure of which is estimated to be enough to kill 25% of the human population of earth.
And lots of things in between.
Bees also pollinate, which enables life to go on.
I just love this conversation… in my musings & collection of tidbits over the decades of my life, I surmise that many (perhaps most) scientists come to what Einstein called “a reverence for all of life”. Ed Yong in his articulate, science based poetry of the “ umveldt” of each creature – how we each experience our world thru our own unique senses & abilities – guides us to an understanding that there are some colors, sights, fragrances, vibrations, sounds & more that we can only appreciate, but never really experience the way the bees, the bats, the whales, the birds, the… do.
So when science is married to “faith” or moral compassion, then we have the advances that bring us into an ever progressive revelation that we are all one; “the plant people, the standing ones, the two legged, the four legged, the creepy crawlers, the finned, the furred, the winged ones, the stone people…”
Looking in to the atom, and out to the galaxies…we “see” infinity…& the finite mind seeks to comprehend…
Love this conversation; I always learn so much!! Love my coffee, and listening to the birds, and reading my Sunday morning food for thot!! Thank you🙏🏼💓
This is a becoming salute to scientists and bees. We can only behold the wonders of a world in transition that may befuddle us at times. Still, we must believe there is yet another act to be written. Let us be to the task of sharpening the nub of our pencils before the final curtain falls.
Be a bee Turn thistles into honey. That is a wonderfully beautiful poem. Thank you for the first line of my next poem.
It sickens me that we still argue about science and religion. They are both inadequate. Science is wholly dependent on corporate profits. How much of our vast scientific knowledge was gained in pursuit of private wealth driven by interests of a tiny minority of Earth’s greediest. Religion has its place, but white American Christianity is a poor substitute for real spirituality.
Life is possible through an endlessly reacting series of corresponding opposites. For example, life and death, light and darkness, positive and negative, sweet and bitter, warmth and cold, love and hate. The list is endless. Everything has an opposite or else it wouldn’t be(e). In every opposite there is a tidbit of the other. Light would be totally blinding if it weren’t tempered by a touch of darkness; darkness would offer nothing but blindness if it weren’t for a tinge of light. The same is true for any related opposites that our little pea-sized human brains can compare. The bee is just being a bee, as Doc/Rev illustrated. The fact that humans and other creatures benefit doesn’t mean anything to a bee. Just as a tree exchanges carbon dioxide for oxygen that then benefits other beings, the tree isn’t doing anything but being a tree. So be a tree. (I don’t know how our esteemed moderator deals with expletives in this forum, but here goes.) Grace Slick in her song, “Eskimo Blue Day”, observed, “To tell it plainly, the human name, doesn’t mean shit to a tree.”
Enjoyed your post. I was heartened that the first amendment is alive and well in these parts.
Your post put me in mind of Jewel Eugene Akens, quote: Let me tell ya ’bout the birds and the bees, And the flowers and the trees, And the moon up above, And a thing called “love.”
I have some hope of being a tree if and when I am reincarnated. But I think being a stray dog taken in by Sandy would be a grand life as well.
Religion is a reflection of our pondering of our place in the world and Universe, as well as the meaning of our lives in the context of our perception and consciousness. It also provides a guide to human interactions. Alas, it becomes corrupted by its use for material gain and control. It often becomes a dictator without moral compass. Thankfully in some cases it has also become bathed in strong humanist philosophy.
Science provided the opportunity for man to free himself from exterior authority and determine that individuals themselves could solve problems and provide direction. With science came the realization that the mind is capable of great, amazing things, even with finding meaning in an Infinite Universe. The shortcoming of Science was that it was afraid of Spirit and viewed everything from the physiology of a cell to the functioning of galaxies as a machine. A grand clock whose parts defined its operation. Thankfully, science is beginning to understand that we are all some form of Energy and that interactions between things are not defined by a clock mechanism. It has also grown from the idea that we are separate individuals but rather are connected to everything that surrounds us. For example, in biology the term and concept of the metaorganism has been coined, which defines an organism as an entity plus its associated microbiota. We are not separated from the world by our skin but rather our physiology and functioning is substantially defined by the microbiota that live within us and on us. In fact, our body contains magnitudes more individual microbes than human cells. From that the concept of the holobiont has evolved which suggests that an organism and its associated microbes have evolved together. One has influenced the evolution of the other.
So perhaps the future portends a coming together of Science and Spirit. Rudolf Steiner coined the term Anthroposophical Science. Not sure that covers it but perhaps it is a start.
There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Roger, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Bacon’s emphasis on inductive reasoning, which gave rise to the scientific method, was certainly a welcome response to some of the uncritical syllogisms of the time. But to suggest that exercises in deductive reasoning — like thought experiments — do not lead to worthy and beneficial outcomes, is short-sighted. Just ask Albert Einstein.
I have only read summaries of Novum Organum, so I’m not familiar with the allegory of the ant, spider, and bee, but I don’t think “usefulness” is necessarily the best measure of value to the world (and yes, for better or for worse, humans are part of the world).
To me, advances in mathematics, medicine, law, and the like are “useful” because they make human life more comfortable; they certainly do nothing for the bees.
Some might say that the “Enlightenment” led us to the mess we’re in today. I don’t necessarily subscribe to that. But spinning cobwebs — painting, sculpture, music, and dance — are religious or spiritual expressions of the image of the creator God in us. And they are our highest and best calling. To the extent religion has emphasized the beauty of creation, the proper place of humans in creation, and importance of each person, it has benefited the world far more than mere scientific reasoning.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
The ant and spider have less glamour than the bee, perhaps, making cellulose or other insects their food–predators or trash collectors–which supports the bees and others higher in the hierarchy of life who look down and can’t imagine why they are all happy, being autonomous, fulfilling their purpose, unconcerned, capable, confident.
Well, we have forgotten to credit the spider with teaching us to weave. Native Americans call her Grandmother Spider and appreciate that fishers learned to weave their nets from the spider. Scientists have steered us in the direction of disrespect and disregard for the intuitive, the creative inspiration, music, poetry….mind you, not the truly great scientists, but the majority who doggedly follow the scientific method of reasoning ’round the clock. Thank you for this blog; you’ve once again brought out the philosophers of your fans. I am still reading their contributions.