Valerius Terminus · Francis Bacon
VALERIUS TERMINUS: OF THE INTERPRETATION OF NATURE
The first is the relevance of | "law-finding" to the phenemonological | empiricism at the heart of Bacon's Nov Org | logic machine--as contrasted with his early | experimentalism. The second is the | standard for us to use in evaluating Bacon's | science. Those who apply the model of | science widespread in the social sciences | and humanities during the 19th and mid | 20th centuries--essentially a model based | upon pre-Einsteinian physics--argue that | Bacon's science is not "science." | | In the last half of the 20th century | "science" in both the "hard" and "soft" | sciences underwent the so-called "second | scientific revolution." The results, in | physics and biology, produced a | phenomenology and an empiricism | that were both quite compatible with the | pre-Newtonian science of Bacon. | | About 80% of the actual research in | laboratories done today by scientists of | all fields, (unaware) follows remarkably | closely to the process explained by | Bacon in Novum Organum and described in | New Atlantis--except that taskforce | research is not today quite as well | organized as was described by Bacon in | New Atlantis. | | In thinking of Bacon's philosophy of science | remember the three features in the Latin of | Novum Organum: Schematismus, | Processus, Form. These operations, which | have counterparts in the "case method" of | searching for the implicit unwritten law | behind a series of judge rulings, cannot be | understood from a reading of the Ellis | translation. Nobody who works from that | version can understand, nor do justice to, | Bacon's science. with the Annotations of | Hermes Stella{2} | 2. Franz Trägfer sums up the Harley MSS.6463 | discussion on "Hermes Stella" | and "Valerius Terminus" "Der Titel des | Fragments wurde zweimal entscheidend | interpretiert.
Ellis (Vorwort, | 201/2): | | "It is impossible to ascertain | the motive which determined | Bacon to give the supposed | author the name of Valerius | Terminus, or to his | commentator, of whose | annotations we have no remains, | that of Hermes Stella. It may | be conjectured that by the name | Terminus he intended to | intimate that the new | philosophy would put an end to | the wandering of mankind in | search of truth, that it would | be the TERMINUS AD QAEM in | which when it was once attained | the mind would finally | acquiesce. | | Again the obscurity of the text | was to be in some measure | removed by the annotations of | Stella; not however wholly, for | Bacon in the epitome of the | eighteenth chapter commends the | manner of publishing knowledge | 'whereby it shall not be to the | capacity nor taste of all, but | shall as it were single and | adopt his reader.'
Stella was | therefore to throw a kind of | starlight on the subject, | enough to prevent the student's | losing his way, but not much | more." | | Die andere klassische | Interpretation gibt Anderson | (op.cit.16/17): | | "The word 'terminus' probably | indicates the 'limits and end' | to which investigation may | proceed. The ANNOTATIONS, of | which 'none are set down in | this fragments'--to quote a | statement written on the | manuscript by Bacon's hand, are | to throw a light as by a star | (STELLA). Now 'star' is the | symbol used by Bacon in the | GESTA GRAYORUM, the ADVANCEMENT | OF LEARNING, and the DE | AUGMENTIS to represent the | sovereign. And the significance | which he attaches to the word | 'Hermes' is evident from his | address to King James in the | Introduction to the ADVANCEMENT | OF LEARNING. 'There is met in | your Majesty, says Bacon, 'a | rare conjunction as well of | divine and sacred literature as | of profane and human; so as | your Majesty standeth invested | of that triplicity which in | great veneration was ascribed | to the ancient Hermes; the | power and fortune of a King, | the knowledge and illumination | of a Priest, and the learning | and the universality of a | Philosopher.' Bacon is, or | pretended to be, greatly | impressed by James's learning: | 'To drink indeed', he says, 'of | the true fountains of learning, | nay to have such a fountain of | learning in himself, in a king, | and in a king born, is always a | miracle.'
And it would appear | that he hopes at the beginning | of James's reign--long before | he suffers disillusionment | respecting his sovereign's | interest in the advance of | 'solid' knowledge--that, | whether or not he can obtain a | greater position of state | beyond that alloted to him by | Elizabeth, he may be enabled to | have the modern Hermes, king of | the realm and head of the | church, and a literary man of | no mean fame and importance, | annote a subject's work on the | new science. James, when he has | done this, may well be | prevailed upon to make | provision for the operation of | the new method of knowledge | either by subsidizing helpers | or by placing at the author's | disposal old or new foundations | of learning (Works, II, 175, | 180; VI, 90, 172; VIII, 396, | 401)." | | Brandt (op.cit., 54) Iehnt | diese Interpretation ab: | "1. findet sich keine klare | Bezeichnung des Königs als | eines Sterns, es läßt sich den | von Anderson angegebenen Texten | nicht entnehmen, daß Stella als | Symbol für Jakob I. zu gelten | hat.
2. kann nur ein König als | Hermes-Trismegistos | angesprochen werden (so VIII, | 335 und I, 432, nicht in der | englischen Fassung III, 263), | weil im Namen die Einheit von | Priester, Philosoph und König | liegt, aber im Titel unserer | Schrift steht nur Hermes, und | die Figur des Hermes hat eme | vielfältige Bedeutung; Hermes | ist der Grenzgott, auf ihn wird | schon in dem Wort 'Terminus' | des Titels angespielt; weiter | ist Hermes der Götterbote, der | 'hermeneus' oder Interpret-- | die Hermesmythologie ist | hineingesponnen in die | interpretatio naturae, die sich | Bacon zur Aufgabe stellt und in | seine Rolle als 'keryx´ und | `buccinator', als Bote des | Friedens (I, 580-581). Man wird | also lieber Hermes Stella eine | der vielen Masken Bacons sein | lassen und sich damit zugleich | von der peinlichen Vorstellung | befreien, Bacon künde im Titel | seines Werkes an, daß der König | die Fußnoten dazu verfaßt (eben | das folgt aus der Annahme von | Anderson)." | | Dieser Auseinandersetzung urn | die Bedeutung des Titels eine | neue Erklärung anzufügen, halte | ich, solange keine neuen | Dokumente gefunden werden, für | wenig sinnvoll.
Allein, es sei | angemerkt, wollten wir uns mit | Brandt von dieser peinlichen | Vorstellung bezüglich Bacons | Denken und Trachten befreien, | so blieben noch genug | Peinlichkeiten der Hybris | Bacons." | | Franz Träger (Hg.), Valerius | Terminus. Von der | Interpretation der Natur | Würzburg: Königshausen und | Neumann, 1984,25-26. | in: The Works of Francis Bacon. Faksimile- | Neudruck der Ausgabe von Spedding, Ellis | und Heath, London 1857-1874, in vierzehn | Bänden (Stuttgart/Bad Cannstadt: Friedrich | Fromann, Verlag Günther Holzboog, 1963), | vol. 3.{3} | 3. Franz Träger discovered that the | Spedding & Ellis as MS6462 is not | correct, in fact it is MS6463. In | his opinion Valerius Terminus was | written before The Advancement of | Learning.
Anderson, Farrington | and Rossi also have the opinion | that it was written in 1603. | Stephens in his edition of 1734 | uses the same order as the | handwritten copy of Bacon's text. | Later editors, including Spedding | and Ellis, choose an order which | corresponds to Bacon's new order | of chapters given in his index. | Franz Träger compared the | translation of the 11th chapter | with the translation of Guiseppe | Furlani, DIE ENTSTEHUNG UND DAS | WESEN DER BACONISCHEN METHODE in: | Archiv für Geschichte der | Philosophie, ed. L. Stein, 33. | Bd., Berlin, 1921, S.23-47. (1. | Teil, 32. Bd., S. 189 ff). | Träger has also checked the | following Bacon translations: | | ESSAYS, übers. von Elisabeth | Schücking, Stuttgart, 1970; | | NEUES ORGANON DER WISSENSCHAFTEN, | übers. von Anton Theobald Brück, | Darmstadt, 1981 (Nachdruck der | Ausgabe, Leipzig, 1830); | | NOVUM ORGANON, übers. von Rudolf | Hoffmann, bearb. von Gertraud Korf, | hrsg. von Manfred Buhr, Berlin (DDR), | 1982. | | | | | | OF THE INTERPRETATION OF NATURE. | | | CAP. 1. | Of the limits and end of knowledge. | | In the divine nature both religion and | philosophy hath acknowledged goodness in | perfection, science or providence | comprehending all things, and absolute | sovereignty or kingdom.
In aspiring to the | throne of power the angels transgressed | and fell{4}, in presuming to come within | 4. Antje Peters checked the Old the oracle of knowledge man transgressed | Testament and the New Testament on the and | fall of the angels: | | Jesaja 14, 14 | Das Judentum ist geprägt von der | antithetisch parallelen Vorstellung | von Dämonen und Engeln als Schädiger | bzw. Helfer des Menschen. Sie wird in | der Erzählung vom Engelfall entfaltet. | | Das Buch Jesaja (Jes 14,12ff)14:12 | Ach, du bist vom Himmel gefallen, du | strahlender Sohn der Morgenröte. Zu | Boden bist du geschmettert, du | Bezwinger der Völker. | | 14:13 Du aber hattest in deinem | Herzen gedacht: Ich ersteige den | Himmel; dort oben stelle ich meinen | Thron auf, über den Sternen Gottes; | auf den Berg der (Götter)versammlung | setze ich mich, im äußersten Norden. | | 14:14 Ich steige weit über die Wolken | hinauf, um dem Höchsten zu gleichen. | | 14:15 Doch in die Unterwelt wirst du | hinabgeworfen, in die äußerste Tiefe. | | Im AT gehörte Satan zu den "Söhnen | Gottes" im himmlischen Hofstaat, wie | die wohl alte Vorstellung Ijob 1,6 | zeigt. | | Das Buch Ijob (Ijob 1,6)1:6 Nun | geschah es eines Tages, da kamen die | Gottessöhne, um vor den Herrn | hinzutreten; unter ihnen kam auch der | Satan. | | Er gilt als Diener Gottes und | verkörpert eine ursprünglich Gott | zugeschriebene Funktion. | Der von dann von Gott abgefallene und | mit seinem Diener aus dem Himmel | gestürzte Engelsfürst wird zum Gegner | Gottes und Verführer der Menschen. | | Auch im NT findet der Teufel als ein | oder der Fürst der gefallenen bösen | Engel Erwähnung. | | Das Evangelium nach Lukas (Lk | 10,18)10:18 Da sagte er zu ihnen: Ich | sah den Satan wie einen Blitz vom | Himmel fallen. | | Der zweite Brief an die Korinther (2 | Kor 11,14)11:14 Kein Wunder, denn auch | der Satan tarnt sich als Engel des | Lichts. | | | Neben den Bibeltexten wird Bacon auch | "De Civitate Dei" (Der Gottesstaat) | von Aurelius Augustinus, dem größten | lateinischen Kirchenlehrer des | christlichen Altertums, vorgelegen | haben, in der das Thema Engelfall | mehrfach unter verschiedenen | Gesichtspunkten erwähnt wird. | So wird im elften Buch die Situation | der Engel besonders beleuchtet. | | Buch XI, 11 | ...
Von dieser Erleuchtung haben sich | gewisse Engel abgewendet und sich die | Auszeichnung eines weisen und seligen | Lebens nicht bewahrt, das zweifellos | nur das ewige, seiner Ewigkeit sichere | und vergewisserte Leben sein kann. Sie | besitzen nur noch ein Vernunftleben, | wenn auch ein einsichtsloses und | derart, daß sie es, selbst wenn sie | wollen, nicht verlieren können. ... | | Buch XI, 13 | ... Die sündigen Engel, die durch ihre | Schlechtigkeit jenes Lichtes verlustig | gingen, haben sie (die | Glückseligkeit), wie wir schlüssig | folgern müssen, auch bevor sie fielen, | nicht gehabt. ... | | Buch XI, 19 | ... Denn diese Scheidung (zwischen | Licht und Finsteris) konnte nur er | allein treffen, der auch, bevor sie | fielen, ihren künftigen Fall | vorauswissen kont, und daß sie, des | Lichtes der Wahrheit verlustig, im | finsteren Hochmut verharren würden. | | Buch XI, 33 | Daß es aber Engel gibt, die gesündigt | haben und in die tiefste Tiefe dieser | Welt verstoßen sind, die ihnen zu | einer Art von Kerker wurde, darin sie | bis zur bevorstehenden letzten | Verurteilung am Tage des Gerichtes zu | bleiben haben: das offenbart ganz | deutlich der Apostel Petrus.
Er sagt, | daß Gott die sündigen Engel nicht | geschont, sondern sie in die finsteren | Abgründe der Hölle hinabgestoßen hat, | wo die bis zur Bestrafung im Gerichte | gefangengehalten werden. ... | ... Und da ja Gott, wie geschrieben | steht, "den Stolzen widersteht, den | Demütigen aber Gnade gibt" (Jak 4,6; 1 | Petr 5,5), wohnt die eine | (Engelsgenossenschaft) im Himmel der | Himmel und ist die andre von dort | hinabgestürzt in diesen untersten | Lufthimmel, um hier ruhelos in und her | zu schwirren. | | Buch XXII,1 | Gott ist es, der mit dem freiwilligen | Sturz der Engel die völlig gerechte | Strafe ewiger Unseligkeit verknüpft | hat und den übrigen Engeln, die im | höchsten Gut verblieben sind, als Lohn | für ihr Verbleiben die Sicherheit | gewährt hat, daß dieses Verbleiben | kein Ende haben wird. | | Aufgrund dieser Erkenntnisse zieht | Augustin Parallelen zum Leben der | Menschen, besonders im 12. Buch: | | Buch XII,1 | ... Während die einen standhaft in dem | allen gemeinsamen Gut, das für sie | Gott selbst ist, und in seiner | Ewigkeit, Wahrheit und Liebe | verharren, sind die anderen, von ihrer | eigenen Macht berauscht, als wären sie | sich selbst ihr Gut , vom höheren, | allen gemeinsamen, beseligenden Gut | zum eigenen Selbst abgefallen. ... fell{5}: but in pursuit towards the | 5. Spedding's footnote:This clause is similitude of God's goodness or love | repeated in the margin, in the (which is one thing, for love is nothing | transcriber's hand. else but goodness put in motion or | applied) neither man or spirit ever | hath transgressed, or shall transgress.{6} | 6. similarly in: : I.M. Praefatio Sp. | I,132, 19-22; AL Sp. III, 12 seq. The angel of light that was, when he | (D.A. Sp.
I, 742, 1 9 seq. (footnote presumed before his fall, said within | taken from the French translation of himself, I WILL ASCEND AND BE LIKE UNTO | Valerius Terminus by Francois Vert, | Meridiens Klincksieck, 1986) THE HIGHEST{7}; not God, but the highest. | 7. Isaiah 14, 14: To be like to God in goodness, was no part | Authorized Version: I will ascend of his emulation; knowledge, being in | above the heights of the clouds; I creation an angel of light, was not the | will be like the most high. want which did most solicit him; only | because he was a minister he aimed at a | supremacy; therefore his climbing or | ascension was turned into a throwing down | or precipitation. | | Man on the other side, when he was tempted | before he fell, had offered unto him this | suggestion, THAT HE SHOULD BE LIKE | UNTO GOD{8}. But how? Not simply, but in | 8. Genesis 3, 5: this part, KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL. For | Authorized Version: For God does know being in his creation invested with | that in the day ye eat thereof, then sovereignty of all inferior | your eyes shall be opened, and ye | shall be as gods, knowing good and | evil. | | For Bacon's alleged use of the Geneva | Bible see Henri Durel-Leon in | Transactions of the Cambridge | Bibliographical Society, XI:2 (1997), | p. 160 and n. 74, modified in the | direction of AV by, probably, Lancelot | Andrewes in AL.
(Thanks to Dr. | Leedham-Green) | | Geneva Bible: The First Boke of Moses, | called Genesis, Chap 3,4+5: Then the | serpent said to the woman, Ye shal not | dye at all, But God doeth knowe, that | when ye shall eat thereof, your eyes | shalbe opened, & ye shalbe as gods | knowing good and evil. [footnote c: As | thogh he shulde say, God doeth not | forbid you to eat of the frute, save | that he knoweth that if you shulde eat | thereof, you shulde be like to him] | | Authorized Version: And the serpent | said unto the woman, Ye shall not | surely die: For God doth know that in | the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes | shall be opened, and ye shall be as | gods, knowing good and evil. | | Vulgata: dixit autem serpens ad | mulierem nequaquam morte moriemini / | scit enim Deus quod in quocumque die | comederitis ex eo aperientur oculi | vestri et eritis sicut dii scientes | bonum et malum creatures{9}, he was not needy of power or | 9. Genesis I, 1,26 dominion; but again, being a spirit newly | Geneva Bible: Furthermore God said, inclosed in a body of earth, he was | Let us make man in our image according fittest to be allured with appetite of | to our lickeness, and let them rule light and liberty of knowledge; therefore | over the fish of the sea, and over the this approaching and intruding into God's | foule of the heaven, and over the secrets and mysteries was rewarded with a | beastes, & over all the earth, and further removing and estranging from God's | over everiething that crepeth & moveth presence.
But as to the goodness of God, | on earth. there is no danger in contending or | advancing towards a similitude thereof, as | Authorized Version: And God said, Let that which is open and propounded to our | us make man in our image, after our imagination. For that voice (whereof the | likeness: and let them have dominion heathen and all other errors of religion | over the fish of the sea, and over the have ever confessed that it sounds not | fowl of the air, and over the cattle, like man), LOVE YOUR ENEMIES; BE YOU LIKE | and over all the earth, and over every UNTO YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER, THAT SUFFERETH | creeping thing that creepeth upon the HIS RAIN TO FALL BOTH UPON | earth. | | Vulgata: Et ait faciamus hominem ad | imaginem et similitudinem nostram et | praesit piscibus maris et volatilibus | caeli et bestiis universaeque terrae | omnique reptili quod movetur in terra THE JUST AND THE UNJUST{10}, doth well | 10. Matthew 5, 44-45 declare, that we can in that point commit | Geneva Bible: Love your enemies... no excess; so again we find it often | That you may be the children of your repeated in the old law, BE YOU HOLY AS I | Father that is in heaven: for he AM | maketh his sunne to arise on the | evil, and the good, and he sendeth | raine on the iuste, & unjuste. | | Authorized Version: Love your | enemies:...
That you may be the | children of your father which is in | heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise | on the evil and on the good, and | sendeth rain on the just and on the | unjust. | Vulgata: Ego autem dico vobis diligite | inimicos vestros ... ut sitis filii | Patris vestri qui in caelis est qui | solem suum oriri facit super bonos et | malos et pluit super iustos et | iniustos. HOLY{11}; and what is holiness else but | 11. Leviticus 11,44: goodness, as we consider it separate and | Authorized Version: For I am the Lord guarded from all mixture and all access of | your God: ye shall therefore sanctify evil? | yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for | I am holy: neither shall ye defile Wherefore seeing that knowledge is of the | yourself with any manner of creeping number of those things which are to be | thing that creepeth upon the earth. accepted of with caution and | 1 Peter 1, 16: | | Authorized Version: For it is written, | Be ye holy; for I am holy. | see also Leviticus 20,7 and 20,26 distinction{12}; being now to open a | 12. cf. A.L.
Sp.III, 264, 1.18 (D.A. fountain, such as it is not easy to | Sp. I, 433, I. 29,30) discern where the issues and streams | thereof will take and fall; I thought it | good and necessary in the first place to | make a strong and sound head or bank to | rule and guide the course of the waters; | by setting down this position or | firmament{13}, namely, THAT ALL KNOWLEDGE | 13. Melek Hasgün comments: IS TO BE LIMITED BY RELIGION, AND TO BE | ‘Firmament’ means, apart from the arch REFERRED | or vault of heaven overhead, in which | the clouds and the stars appear, in | the literal etymological sense a firm | support or foundation. At the | beginning of his text Bacon sets | the basis for his further theories. | According to Bacon it is important not | to try to find out the secrets and | mysteries of God or to desire to be | like God, as was the case in the Fall | of Man and the Fall of Angels.
Thus it | is forbidden to exceed these limits, | but to inquire into nature and its | creatures is legitimate, because God | has "...let man have dominion over | (...) all the earth..."(Gen.I, 1,26). | He maintains that all knowledge is | limited by religion and by this | statement he also avoids any suspicion | on heresy, which could arise because | of his desire for progress and | knowledge. TO USE AND ACTION{14}. | 14. "Ad meritum et usus vitae", Works, | vol. I, p. 132 ; Italics in order to For if any man shall think by view and | stress the importance; probably not a inquiry into these sensible and material | quotation. things, to attain to any light for the | revealing of the nature or will of God, he | shall dangerously abuse himself. It is | true that the contemplation of the | creatures of God hath for end (as to the | natures of the creatures themselves) | knowledge, but as to the nature of God, no | knowledge, but wonder; which is nothing | else but contemplation broken off, or | losing itself.
Nay further, as it was | aptly said by one of Plato's school THE | SENSE OF MAN RESEMBLES THE SUN, WHICH | OPENETH AND REVEALETH THE TERRESTRIAL | GLOBE, BUT OBSCURETH AND CONCEALETH THE | CELESTIAL{15}; so doth the sense discover | 15. Philo d'Alexandrie, Des Songes, natural things, but darken and shut up | Livre I, 83-4 (footnote taken from the divine. And this appeareth sufficiently in | Vert translation) that there is no proceeding in invention | of knowledge but by similitude; and God is | only self-like, having nothing in common | with any creature, otherwise than as in | shadow and trope. Therefore attend his | will as himself openeth it, and give unto | faith that which unto faith belongeth{16}; | 16. St. Matthew 22, 21: for more worthy it is to believe than to | Authorized Version: ... Then saith he think or know, considering that in | unto them, Render therefore unto knowledge (as we now are capable of it) | Caesar the things which are Caesar's; the mind suffereth from inferior natures; | and unto God the things that are but in all belief it suffereth from a | God's. spirit which it holdeth superior and | more authorised than itself.{17} | 17. cf. A.L. Sp. III,478,1.8 sq. (D.A. | Sp.
Ideas discussed in this chapter
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.