Pierre Abelard 12 th Century French religious philosopher

“By doubting, we come to inquire and by inquiry we arrive at the Truth". Abelard in his treatise “Sic et Non” – “Yes and No” writes: “In this short and simple but profound sentence lies a complete description of Science.”

…of course Doubt and Questioning are intrinsic threats to the power of those who depend on dogma for their authority …and Abelard got into a lot of hot water!

Francis Bacon, 16 th Century philosopher Portrait at Wikipedia

Bacon defined the “Scientific” Method in his book Novum Organum Novum Organum is Latin for New Instrument! What was this “New Instrument”

To determine what is intrinsically true one must proceed through inductive reasoning: Observation ↓ Hypothesis ↓ Supporting Evidence ↓ Physical Law

To determine truth we must doubt and inquire ! We arrive at the most profound axiom of all time … If we invert Abelard’s statement which has had explosive consequences

The “New Instrument” intrinsically undermined the assumptions and claims that had held sway heretofore that fundamental truth was to be found in the holy scriptures

Those who followed this axiom found themselves in conflict with dogma-based authority and many were executed Giordano Bruno for One

It is interesting to note that only where Natural Philosophy has undermined the power of dogma-based authority have Democracy and Science developed ! Rembrandt Peale and Hans Erni