Anniversary Dinner 1974: Speech by Sir Thomas Brimelow at the Anniversary Dinner, The Dorchester, 30 November 1974

1975 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-14
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Classical Scholar ◽  
Science In Society ◽  
English I

An invitation from the President of the Royal Society to speak at one of these Dinners gives pleasure and confers honour; but it also disconcerts, for the Society, by its motto of Nullius in verba , gives notice that the President and the Fellows and the Foreign Members, some of whom are present tonight, do not intend to take on trust anything that the speaker may say: which, if it were so, would be a pity, because I shall have occasion to express the gratitude and appreciation of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for what the Society does in the field of its foreign relations and I should wish my words to be believed. Digressing for a moment, I am going to take advantage of this phrase Nullius in verba because a former President of the Royal Society, who was also a very distinguished classical scholar, once said that all bureaucrats of all countries should be required to speak in Esperanto; but this evening I propose to speak English. I am told by a former Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society that this motto means nothing more than ‘check the evidence’. It must be admitted that by checking the evidence and by testing the validity of propositions in the field of natural philosophy in the 314 years which have elapsed since the Society was founded, science has come a long way; to the benefit, on balance, of the greater part of mankind. Yet, at the beginning of this century, I think the Royal Society was over-optimistic about the role of science in society.

Mathematical subtleties and scientific knowledge: Francis Bacon and mathematics, at the crossing of two traditions

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
GIULIANO MORI
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Inductive Method ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The Many ◽  
Royal Society Of London

AbstractThis article engages the much-debated role of mathematics in Bacon's philosophy and inductive method at large. The many references to mathematics in Bacon's works are considered in the context of the humanist reform of the curriculum studiorum and, in particular, through a comparison with the kinds of natural and intellectual subtlety as they are defined by many sixteenth-century authors, including Cardano, Scaliger and Montaigne. Additionally, this article gives a nuanced background to the ‘subtlety’ commonly thought to have been eschewed by Bacon and by Bacon's self-proclaimed followers in the Royal Society of London. The aim of this article is ultimately to demonstrate that Bacon did not reject the use of mathematics in natural philosophy altogether. Instead, he hoped that following the Great Instauration a kind of non-abstract mathematics could be founded: a kind of mathematics which was to serve natural philosophy by enabling men to grasp the intrinsic subtlety of nature. Rather than mathematizing nature, it was mathematics that needed to be ‘naturalized’.

Improving the questions we ask, with Psychology and Cognitive Conflict.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Buttliere
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Cognitive Conflict ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Scientific Papers ◽  
Science In Society

Over the last decade, there have been many suggestions to improve how scientists answer their questions, but far fewer attempt to improve the questions scientists are asking in the first place. The goal of the paper is then to examine and summarize synthesize the evidence on how to ask the best questions possible. First is a brief review of the philosophical and empirical literature on how the best science is done, which implicitly but not explicitly mentions the role of psychology and especially cognitive conflict. Then we more closely focus on the psychology of the scientist, finding that they are humans, engaged in a meaning making process, and that cognitive conflict is a necessary input for any learning or change in the system. The scientific method is, of course, a specialized meaning making process. We present evidence for this central role of cognitive conflict in science by examining the most discussed scientific papers between 2013 and 2017, which are, in general, controversial and about big problems (e.g., whether vaccines cause autism, how often doctors kill us with their mistakes). Toward the end we discuss the role of science in society, suggesting science itself is an uncertainty reducing and problem solving enterprise. From this basis we encourage scientists to take riskier stances on bigger topics, for the good of themselves and society generally.

Francis Bacon and the Origins of Christian Virtuosity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Nuovo
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Intellectual Life ◽  
Natural Philosopher ◽  
Robert Boyle ◽  
The Mind

Although the vocation of Christian virtuoso was invented and named by Robert Boyle, Francis Bacon provided the archtype. A Christian virtuoso is an experimental natural philosopher who professes Christianity, who endeavors to unite empiricism and supernatural belief in an intellectual life. In his program for the renewal of the learning Bacon prescribed that the empirical study of nature be the basis of all the sciences, including not only the study of physical things, but of human society, and literature. He insisted that natural causes only be used to explain natural events and proposed not to mix theology with natural philosophy. This became a rule of the Royal Society of London, of which Boyle was a principal founder. Bacon’s rule also had a theological use, to preserve the purity and the divine authority of revelation. In the mind of the Christian virtuoso, nature and divine revelation were separate but complementary sources of truth.

Science Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century: Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 002200942110067
Author(s):  
Soenke Kunkel
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Contemporary History ◽  
Global Environmental Problems ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Science Diplomacy ◽  
The Cold War

Setting the stage for the special forum, this introduction points to the centrality of science diplomacy activities within many current foreign policy concepts around the world. It also points to the lack of historical perspective within many current academic debates about science diplomacy. Suggesting the value of such a perspective, the introduction then draws attention to a number of fruitful contributions that histories of science diplomacy may make to contemporary history. These include: a better understanding of how entanglements between science, foreign policy, and international relations evolved over the twentieth century; a refined understanding of the workings of foreign relations and diplomacy that sheds light on the role of science as an arena of foreign relations; new insights into the Cold War; a globalizing of perspectives in the writing of contemporary history; a new international focus on widely under-researched actors like universities, science movements, science organizations, and science academies; a focus on new themes that range from global environmental problems to issues like cultural heritage. The remainder of the introduction then delineates some of the shared assumptions and findings of the essays and then briefly introduces each contribution to the special section.

scholarly journals Alan F. Williams: an Appreciation

1993 ◽  
Vol 342 (1299) ◽  
pp. 4-5
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Untimely Death ◽  
The Subject

The papers in this symposium form the proceeding of the Royal Society’s Discussion Meeting held in March 1993. As co-organizers and editors, we trust that we have put together a timely, enterprising and enlightening volume which provides a fitting tribute to Alan Williams. It was Alan who first promoted to the Royal Society the subject of CD4 as a topic for one of the Society’s Discussion Meetings and who agreed to be cast in the role of organizer. After Alan’s untimely death, as coorganizers we were given the choice of proceeding with the meeting or not, and it was decided to proceed as a memorial to Alan. We are certain that it was exactly what Alan would have wanted us to do.

Hobbes'forgotten Natural Histories

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Bunce
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Historical Information ◽  
Natural Histories

AbstractThomas Hobbes' natural philosophy is often characterised as rationalistic in opposition to the emerging inductivist method employed by Francis Bacon and fellows of the Gresham College - later the Royal Society. Where as the inductivists researched and published a multitude of natural histories, Hobbes' mature publications contain little natural historical information. Nonetheless, Hobbes read numerous natural histories and incorporated them into his works and often used details from these histories to support important theoretical moves. He also wrote a number of natural histories, some of which remain either unpublished or untranslated. Hobbes' own mature statements about his early interest in natural histories are also misleading. This article attempts to review Hobbes' early writings on natural histories and argues that his works of the 1630s and 1640s owe a significant debt to the natural histories of Francis Bacon, Hobbes' one-time patron.

Logikôs Argumentation in Aristotle’s Natural Science

Apeiron ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Woodcox
Keyword(s):  
Natural Science ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Close Textual Analysis ◽  
Standard Domain

AbstractThis paper offers a novel interpretation of the nature and role of logical (logikôs) argumentation in Aristotle’s natural philosophy. In contrast to the standard domain interpretation, which makes logikôs argumentation the contrary of phusikôs, relying on principles drawn from outside the domain of natural science, I propose that the essential or defining feature of logikôs argumentation is the use of principles that are general relative to the question under investigation. My interpretation is developed and illustrated with a close textual analysis of Aristotle’s explanation of mule sterility in Generation of Animals II 8.

Disaffiliation amongst academically elite students in Singapore: the role of a non-standard variety of English

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (271) ◽  
pp. 139-166
Author(s):  
Luke Lu
Keyword(s):  
Peer Groups ◽  
Transnational Migration ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Standard Variety ◽  
Multinational Group ◽  
Social Fields ◽  
English I

Abstract This article seeks to examine whether and how a non-standard variety of English (i.e. Singlish) might contribute to (dis)affiliation amongst a multinational group of academically elite students in Singapore. Using interview data when informants expressed ideologies about Singlish and Standard English, I argue that informants tended to orient to two different social fields in interviews: a field of education where Standard English is consistently valued by them, and an informal field of socialisation where the value of Singlish is contested. Differences in valuation of Singlish suggest disaffiliation between two groups of academically elite students: (a) immigrants from China who arrived more recently and do not value Singlish; (b) localised peer groups (including immigrants and Singaporeans) who claim to value and practise Singlish in their informal interactions. There are implications for our understanding of the role of vernaculars in processes of transnational migration, and Singlish as a local marker of solidarity.

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