Thomas comments on Rationality quotes: October 2010 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Morendil 05 October 2010 11:38AM

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Comment author: Thomas 06 October 2010 06:51:49PM *  2 points [-]

The new man of science must not think that the "inquisition of nature is in any part interdicted or forbidden." Nature must be ... put "in constraint" and "moulded" by the mechanical arts. The "searchers and spies of nature" are to discover "her" plots and secrets.

  • Francis Bacon
Comment author: simplicio 06 October 2010 08:57:04PM 2 points [-]

Great quote, but what's with the quotation marks?

Comment author: arundelo 06 October 2010 09:28:59PM 5 points [-]

It looks like this is actually a quote from Carolyn Merchant's The Death of Nature; only the parts in quotation marks are Bacon's words, taken from "The Great Instauration", "The Masculine Birth of Time", and "De Dignitate".

Comment author: RobinZ 07 October 2010 12:20:10AM 2 points [-]

Confirmed from the linked Amazon.com page by searching the preview for "searchers and spies of nature" (no quotes).

Comment author: arundelo 07 October 2010 01:14:15AM 1 point [-]

That's exactly what I did! (And looked up the sources in the endnotes.)

Comment author: Thomas 07 October 2010 05:14:23AM 0 points [-]

It is the very essence of the negation of the environmentalism. Too rational, too heartless quote for many readers of this page.

Comment author: simplicio 07 October 2010 02:20:40PM 3 points [-]

I interpreted it as a call for experiment, not industry. I could very well be wrong.

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