Sebelum memulakan laporan tentang kuliah, saya ingin mengulaskan satu artikel diberi oleh pensyarah bertajuk “The father of modern science?” oleh Andrew Pyle. Pada pendapat saya, sebelum kita berdepanan dengan pemikiran dan teori falsafah Francis Bacon, pemahaman singkat tentang Francis Bacon, latar belakang beliau dan pengaruh pemikirannya perlulah wujud supaya kita dapat memahami asal pemikirannya, faktor pemikirannya dan seterusnya kebenaran atau fakta dalam falsafah beliau .
Artikel tersebut merupakan satu review tentang buku bertajuk “Francis Bacon and the Transformation of Early Modern Philosophy” yang membincangkan Francis Bacon dan peranan yang dibawa oleh beliau dalam pembangunan sains moden. Francis Bacon (1561- 1626) merupakan seorang ahli falsafah, negarawan British, saintis, peguam, ahli undang-undang, penulis dan orang mencipta kaedah saintifik (father of scientific method). Andrew Pyle berpendapat bahawa buku tersebut telah menerangkan peranan dan kepentingan Francis Bacon. Menurut pengarang buku “Francis Bacon and the Transformation of Early Modern Philosophy” iaitu Stephen G., falsafah dan pemikiran yang diasaskan oleh Francis Bacon merupakan sebab utama ilmu sains dibangunkan dan diperkembangkan di Barat dan bukan di turkey ataupun China pada era ke-17an, di mana sains merupakan satu artifak budaya dan bukannya sesuatu yang dihasilkan secara semulajadi.
Dalam karya besar Francis Bacon - Novum Organum, atau "instrumen baru", Francis Bacon berpendapat bahawa walaupun falsafah pada ketika itu menggunakan terutamanya silogisme deduktif untuk menginterpretasikan tabii alam, di mana adalah disebabkan oleh logik Aristotle (atau Organon), ahli falsafah patut melanjutkan melalui penalaran induktif dari fakta ke aksiom hingga ke undang-undang fizikal. Sebelum memulakan induksi ini, pengkaji adalah untuk membebaskan fikirannya dari idea-idea palsu tertentu atau kecenderungan yang akan memutarbalikkan kebenaran. Ini disebut "Idols" (idola) dan terdapat empat jenis idols :
1. "Idols of the Tribe"
Bacon said that the Idols of the Tribe "take their rise either from the homogeneity of the substance of the human spirit, or from its preoccupation, or from its narrowness, or from its restless motion, or from an infusion of the affections, or from the incompetency of the senses, or from the mode of impression"
2. "Idols of the Cave"
Bacon said that the Idols of the Cave "grow for the most part either out of the predominance of a favorite subject, or out of an excessive tendency to compare or to distinguish, or out of partiality for particular ages, or out of the largeness or minuteness of the objects contemplated. And generally let every student of nature take this as a rule: that whatever his mind seizes and dwells upon with peculiar satisfaction is to be held in suspicion, and that so much the more care is to be taken in dealing with such questions to keep the understanding even and clear."
3. "Idols of the Market-place"
Bacon said that the Idols of the Market Place were given this name by him because "on account of the commerce and consort of men there. For it is by discourse that men associate, and words are imposed according to the apprehension of the vulgar. And therefore the ill and unfit choice of words wonderfully obstructs the understanding. Nor do the definitions or explanations wherewith in some things learned men are wont to guard and defend themselves, by any means set the matter right. But words plainly force and overrule the understanding, and throw all into confusion, and lead men away into numberless empty controversies and idle fancies."
4. "Idols of the Theater"
Bacon, “Idols which have immigrated into men's minds from the various dogmas of philosophies, and also from wrong laws of demonstration. These I call Idols of the Theater, because in my judgment all the received systems are but so many stage plays, representing worlds of their own creation after an unreal and scenic fashion. Nor is it only of the systems now in vogue, or only of the ancient sects and philosophies, that I speak; for many more plays of the same kind may yet be composed and in like artificial manner set forth; seeing that errors the most widely different have nevertheless causes for the most part alike. Neither again do I mean this only of entire systems, but also of many principles and axioms in science, which by tradition, credulity, and negligence have come to be received.”
Bacon said that, in his time, the last type, the superstitious, was most common, and did the most harm.
Menurut Francis Bacon, idola-idola inilah yang akan menghalangkan seseorang daripada pencarian kebenarannya dan penghalang perjalanan menjawab persoalan seseorang.
Pada mula-mula ketika saya membaca, saya tidak dapat memahami kenapa falsafah akan dikaitkan dengan sains, kerana bagi saya, sains adalah bersifat fizikal, kita mampu mempelajari ilmu sains dengan deria-deria kita: baca, dengar dan sentuh, namun falsafah adalah kontrasnya di mana tidak dapat dilihat, disentuh, dirasai. Tetapi selepas membaca artikel tambahan oleh pensyarah, saya hanya menyedari bahawa penerokaan ilmu sains bermula daripada pemikiran seseorang di mana pemikiran berkait penting dengan teori falsafah.
