Dogma v. science

“They who have presumed to dogmatize on nature, as on some well investigated subject, either from self-conceit or arrogance, and in the professorial style, have inflicted the greatest injury on philosophy and learning. For they have tended to stifle and interrupt inquiry exactly in proportion as they have prevailed in bringing others to their opinion; and their own activity has not counterbalanced the mischief they have occasioned by corrupting and destroying that of others.” Francis Bacon, first sentences of the Preface to Novum Organum, 1620. Though I can’t agree with Bacon on everything (for one thing, science has advanced since his writing), I can support much of his philosophy about the proper relation of science (natural philosophy) and religion. I take his theme throughout this piece to be that any predetermined viewpoint, used to stifle the investigation of natural causes, hurts not only learning but a proper understanding of God, because all truth is ultimately God’s truth (Advancement of Learning, First Book, Section VI-1).

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