Preface

Bacon attacks those who dogmatize about nature with overconfidence, arguing they have caused the greatest injury to philosophy by stifling inquiry in others even as their own efforts fail to compensate for the damage they inflict.

Bacon acknowledges that skeptics who deny all knowledge have provided defensible reasons, but argues they have exceeded proper moderation through excessive zeal and affectation.

Bacon holds up the ancient Greeks as exemplary for maintaining a middle path between dogmatic arrogance and skeptical despair, pursuing nature through experience rather than disputation.

Although the ancients pursued experience, they relied solely on the unaided mind's intense meditation and perpetual agitation rather than employing systematic rules.

Bacon's method, though difficult to execute, involves determining degrees of certainty by restoring the senses to proper rank while rejecting the mind's natural operations and establishing a new systematic course from immediate sense perception.

While logic was intended to support the mind and counter its natural weaknesses, it operates too late in inquiry—after the mind is already corrupted by false doctrines and idols—and thus confirms errors rather than disclosing truth.

The only hope is to restart intellectual work entirely, directing the mind systematically from the beginning with artificial supports, much as mechanical instruments enable physical labor beyond what unaided hands could accomplish.

Through the extended metaphor of attempting to move a large obelisk with bare hands, Bacon illustrates the absurdity of expecting intellectual breakthroughs from unaided minds, whether by increasing numbers, selecting the strongest, or training through logic.

Bacon concludes that in all significant human endeavors, the strength of individuals cannot be increased nor that of multitudes combined without machines and implements.

Bacon advises leaving the ancients' honor intact to avoid the appearance of rivalry; since his method is entirely different from theirs, he need only serve as a guide rather than contest their talents.

Bacon declares he will not disturb prevailing or other philosophical systems, acknowledging their utility for discussion and civil life while asserting his own method serves different, practical purposes grounded in effects rather than eloquence.

Bacon proposes coexistence of two methods: the traditional 'anticipation of the mind' for cultivation of sciences, and his 'interpretation of nature' for discovery of truth, serving different audiences and purposes without hostility.

Bacon invites those willing to pursue genuine discovery over eloquence to join him in penetrating beyond the common understanding of nature to her inner apartments through systematic labor.

Bacon asks readers to examine his work thoroughly and gradually, not cursorily, experiencing the subtlety of things through practice and correcting their minds' habitual errors before forming final judgment.