Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
But it is the poetic inscription offered in this topic's introduction by Abra-
ham Cowley that gives us a more specific clue regarding the character of the
contribution that had earned him this honor. Bacon, like Moses, “Did on
the very Border Stand of the best promis'd Land,” and from there he saw
science—but only “from the Mountain's Top of his Exalted wit.”
7
Like the
Bible's lawgiver, Bacon had provided a vital part of science's revelation, but
not the essential part. The new natural philosophers, though undoubtedly
inspired by Bacon's idealizations of induction and empiricism, did not follow
the specific methodological course that he had charted.
8
It was not Moses
but Joshua, the Old Testament namesake of Jesus, who led the Hebrews
into Israel, and thus by Cowley's analogy Bacon was not a scientist. His role
was one of preparation, and the “law” that he gave in performing this duty
was his understanding of the conditions under which true learning might
advance. As St. Paul had written of the law in that pivotal text of the Ref-
ormation, his Letter to the Galatians (3:24), Bacon's writings had not fully
revealed the ways of science; they were only its “custodian.”
But Cowley's poem tells us something even more significant. In aligning
the scientific role with this prophetic one, he was in fact imitating Bacon's
mode of argument. The guiding premise behind Bacon's advocacy had been
the supposition that science deserves a more central place because it gave
distinct expression to England's faith commitments. Cowley's analogy reit-
erated the essence of this argument. Even if Bacon's notions of scientific
method were ignored by scientific practitioners, his formula for situating
science within English society remained relevant. This becomes especially
evident once we recognize that science's place in the world still remained
unsettled, and that it was Bishop Sprat's purpose in writing this history to
continue pursuing the goals he attributes to Bacon—the “defence of Experi-
mental Philosophy; and the best directions, that are needful to promote it.”
9
From our standpoint, the defense and promotion of science might seem to
demand only a philosophy of science, but in a world where science had no
established place in the order of things, it meant more fundamentally the
integration of science into the structures of meaning that constituted its
social being.
In his own introduction, Sprat explains that Bacon deserved this special
place of honor because he “had the true Imagination of the whole extent of
this Enterprize.”
10
Certainly this “whole extent” encompassed those techni-
cal applications that Bacon envisioned for science, but these were only occa-
sional subjects of his writings. The more meaningful “whole” in which the
growth of learning was destined to be realized was the drama of Christian
