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Quotation from Novum Organum by Francis Bacon
“We must not then add wings, but rather lead and ballast to the understanding, to prevent its jumping or flying”
Novum Organum, Book I, Aphorism CIV, trans. Joseph Devey (ed.), 1902
Bacon's image for graduated induction: the mind must be weighted to climb axiom by axiom instead of leaping to generalities.
Citation: "We must not then add wings, but rather lead and ballast to the understanding, to prevent its jumping or flying" — Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, Book I, Aphorism CIV, trans. Joseph Devey (ed.), 1902. (id novum-organum-q8)
Portrait: Portrait of Francis Bacon., Paul van Somer I / Formerly attributed to Frans Pourbus the Younger, Public domain.
