The life & work of Roger Bacon : an introduction to the Opus majus / by H. Gordon Jones.

  • John Henry Bridges
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The life & work of Roger Bacon : an introduction to the Opus majus / by H. Gordon Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    43/180 (page 41)
    which were the earliest to ‘ take the morning ’ of European thought. II. BACON’S POSITION IN THE META- PHYSICAL CONTROVERSIES OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY It is too often forgotten that Bacon was a schoolman ; trained in scholastic methods, and ready to take part in the philosophic discussions which interested his contemporaries. It is not perhaps surprising that this side of his work should have been ignored ; for in the Opus Majus^ though visible enough to an attentive reader, it is thrown into the shade by the prominence given to positive science, and by the practical applica- tion of science to political and religious purposes. Some chapters [38-52] of the Opus Tertium^ which supplement too hasty or imperfect treatment in the larger work, afford better illustrations of Bacon’s aptitude for metaphysical discussion. Neverthe- less, the position of Bacon in the scholastic con- troversies of the thirteenth century remained an unknown quantity till the appearance of Professor Charles’s monograph.^ His comprehensive survey of Bacon’s unpublished works includes a careful ^ {RogerBacon^ i86i.]