Of Superstition
by
Francis Bacon
(Summary)
Bacon, in this essay, throws light on his
views on superstition. According to him, superstition means Catholicism. It is
a corrupting influence in society. He says that even atheism is better than
superstition because, for him, it is ‘better to have no opinion of God at all,
than such an opinion as is unworthy of him’. Atheism at least leaves open the
possibility that a man might embrace philosophy, law, and other avenues for
critical thought, whereas superstition blunts these things. He argues that Superstition
is a corrupting influence on the minds of men, leading them to shape their
observations and theories about the workings of nature around already held beliefs,
rather than the other way round.
Bacon,
in other words, sees the superstition as antithetical to the process of inductive
reasoning and critical thinking, he so valued. Untimely, superstition actually
deformed the very religious belief it was supposed to buttress. In the view of
Bacon, superstition actually was destructive to man’s intellectual, religious
and civil life. His counter argument, such as it is in eliminating superstition
from religion, people should be careful not to quash belief itself. There is a
superstition in avoiding superstition., when men think to do best if they go
furthest from the superstition formerly received; therefore, care would be had
that the good be not taken away with the bad; which commonly is done when the
people is the reformer.
The
superstition Bacon refers to is not the belief in black cats bringing bad luck but
really Roman Catholicism, even though he refers to it in an indirect way. He claims
that no religion is better than superstition; quoting Plutarch who said he’d rather
people believe there was no such man as Plutarch than if they said he ate his children
like Saturn. Atheists can be still moral people because of the common sense, philosophy,
fearing law or for their reputation but superstition is like an absolute monarchy,
annulling all of these. The causes of superstition, enumerated by Bacon, are
quite standard in Protestant polemic: too much love of outer show and ceremony,
a mistaken fidelity to tradition, the intrigues of priests. Superstition to
religion is like an ape towards a man – its similarity to the real thing makes
it even uglier.
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