"And because this Experimental Science is wholly ignored by the general run of students, for that reason I can not convince people of its utility unless I show at the same time its excellence and its property. This science alone, then, knows how to test perfectly by experience what can be done by nature, what by the industry of art, what by imposture; what the incantations, conjurations, invocations, deprecations, sacrifices (which are magical devices) seek and dream of; and what is done in them, so that all falsity may be removed and that only the truth of art and nature be retained. This science alone teaches one to consider all the insanities of magicians, not that they may be confirmed but that they may be avoided, just as logic considers sophistical argument."
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Natural philosophersPhilosophers from EnglandCatholics from EnglandTheologians from EnglandAstrologers
Original Language: English
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6th part Experimental Science, Ch.2 Tr. Richard McKeon, Selections from Medieval Philosophers Vol.2 Roger Bacon to William of Ockham
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Bacon
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Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon (c. 1219/20 – c. 1292), also known as Doctor Mirabilis (Latin: "wonderful teacher"), was an English theologian, philosopher and Franciscan friar. An English philosopher who placed considerable emphasis on empiricism, he was one of the earliest European advocates of the modern scientific method. Later studies have emphasized his reliance on occult and alchemical traditions. All his theoretical writings were originally in Latin.
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