Summary Of Dephlogisticated Air By Joseph Priestley Essay
Paige Morgridge
September 9, 2013
Honors Chemistry
Period 3
Good Science
Joseph Priestley's opinion of what the standards of good science are very strong from the very beginning of his article titled, Of Dephlogisticated Air, and of the Constitution of the Atmosphere. He states that what he's saying in the secion of his writing tends to greatly encourage philisophical investigations. He talks about how instead of just believing in chance or well known philosophies before going into scientific experiments, it's better to base your experiments off of such prior knowledge and then add in real observations and interpret what you'd found. When Priestley says, "This does not appear in the works of those who write synthetically upon these subjects; but would, I doubt not, appear very strikingly in those who are the most celebrated for …show more content…
From dates back to the early 1200's to the mid 1650's, Empiricists were all about experiments. Robert Bacon, and Early Empiricist, believed that experience is superior to argument (which could come from long accepted theories), and that experience science is a valid route to truth, making observation key to science. Priestley says in his article, "That this was not the case, I attribute to the force of prejudice, which, unkown to ourselves, biasses not only our judgments, properly so called, but even the perceptions of our senses: for we may take a maxim so strongly for granted, that the plainest evidence of sense will not intirely change, and often hardly modify our persuasions; and the more ingenious a man is, the more effectually he is entangled in his errors; his ingenuity only helping him to deceive himself, by evading the force of truth." He's stating that many people overlook simple observations and facts (or truths) because they believe in theories and biasses. He believes that an ingenious man is deceiving himself by distancing himself from the
September 9, 2013
Honors Chemistry
Period 3
Good Science
Joseph Priestley's opinion of what the standards of good science are very strong from the very beginning of his article titled, Of Dephlogisticated Air, and of the Constitution of the Atmosphere. He states that what he's saying in the secion of his writing tends to greatly encourage philisophical investigations. He talks about how instead of just believing in chance or well known philosophies before going into scientific experiments, it's better to base your experiments off of such prior knowledge and then add in real observations and interpret what you'd found. When Priestley says, "This does not appear in the works of those who write synthetically upon these subjects; but would, I doubt not, appear very strikingly in those who are the most celebrated for …show more content…
From dates back to the early 1200's to the mid 1650's, Empiricists were all about experiments. Robert Bacon, and Early Empiricist, believed that experience is superior to argument (which could come from long accepted theories), and that experience science is a valid route to truth, making observation key to science. Priestley says in his article, "That this was not the case, I attribute to the force of prejudice, which, unkown to ourselves, biasses not only our judgments, properly so called, but even the perceptions of our senses: for we may take a maxim so strongly for granted, that the plainest evidence of sense will not intirely change, and often hardly modify our persuasions; and the more ingenious a man is, the more effectually he is entangled in his errors; his ingenuity only helping him to deceive himself, by evading the force of truth." He's stating that many people overlook simple observations and facts (or truths) because they believe in theories and biasses. He believes that an ingenious man is deceiving himself by distancing himself from the