Records: political background to The Method

## ***Everything is connected***...

In studying the overall philosophy of learning, Richard had found other men who had already blazed trails – and he worked to incorporate their insights into his own. Henry of Ghent had standards for truth, and leaned on both Plato and Aristotle (and at that point, so did Richard). Albertus Magnus was a renown and prolific German natural philosopher, and Richard made one of the first complete collections of his work. Thomas Aquinas, master of natural reason and speculative theology, was of keen interest (especially since he'd been condemned 1277 yet later canonized in 1323 as a saint). Blessed John (Johannes, Ioannes) Duns Scotus was a subject of study: a sophisticated realist philosopher and somewhat of a holy existentialist.

Finally, and most recently, William of Ockham was a scholar of Nominalist metaphysics, epistemology, theology, logic, ontology and politics. He'd created Occam's razor, true wisdom in a nutshell, and like so many others, had run afoul of the church.

His unholy run-in was mostly over Apostolic poverty, a staple of the Franciscan "Fraticelli" (who Pope John XXII had obvious differences with). He and his fellow Franciscans went on the run, slipping out of Oxford and heading to Bavaria (who also had differences with the Pope). There were further adventures, but he finished life living in exile with a small band of Franciscan dissidents, writing about politics. He'd been excommunicated as an apostate ...and posthumously restored by Pope Innocent VI in 1359.

Ockham's travails set the context for understanding current Lollardy iconoclast John Wycliffe (and a Princely devouring of his works). Just as Richard was delving deeper into this lay preacher, Pope Gregory XI issued his bull against Wycliffe. Five of them had gone out and by late May, the one landing before King Edward III soon wound up in Richard's hands. Among the enclosures were 18 of Wycliffe's theses, many of which were already familiar – but all of which were denounced as erroneous and dangerous to Church and State. Edward III had passed them on to the Crown Prince post haste, as a warning of political expediency. Edward of Woodstock, had in turn passed them on to his Richard agreed on their potential toxicity to the church but found them bordering on theological genius.

Even France had their own, similar movement with the Waldensians. Not coincidentally, the movement was declared heretical in 1215. This helped set the path for greater critique of the Church, especially in light of indulgences, simony and the absolution granted by confession – creating a move toward humanism and moral relativity.

At this point, among the masses, there was general dissatisfaction and skepticism of the Catholic church. Gregory XI's bull impressed upon these same folk the name of Lollards, intended as an opprobrious epithet, but it became, to them, a name of honour. Even in Wycliffe's time the "Lollards" had reached wide circles in England and preached "God's law, without which no one could be justified." The Church, however, had real power where the Lollards had none (short of insurrection, though that was looking like a possibility toward London). The Church was clearly self-serving, and the travails of the Lollards were broadening Richard's consciousness. He was pouring all manner of time into studying political history, current events, religion, theology and every branch of philosophy, coming away with an explosive mix of motivation and religious disaffection.

The discussions were, in the truest sense, political science. There were hostile clergy, to say the least – and many sympathetic – and the word traveled quickly. By illustrating the history, it was drawing battle lines, with young Richard now inextricably linked to the Lollards and the cause of Church Reform – perhaps in ways more profound than simply arguing with a bishop.

### **The Rise of the Naturalist Method**

The political discussions eventually came full circle, back to Bacon and Grosseteste's path. It was the re-emergence of natural philosophy in the middle of an argument of church and state. *Science was important*. Even as many of the clergy fled to file their complaints, some clergy remained – as did the congregations of global scholars.

Richard built upon Bacon and Grosseteste, creating a systematic philosophical method of problem solving. It was a self-correcting thought process regarding recording observations, quantifying them, forming a theory, then testing it and seeing how it held up. As an afterthought, he included peer review for error correction. He codified and titled this philosophy "The Naturalist Method."

The Naturalist Method became the foundation to guide all future inquiries. It was recognized and adopted by his retinue as academic gospel, further cementing his teachers as his acolytes and disciples. It would become the foundation of the Royal Academy and eventually the cannon for science throughout the world.

What many found fascinating was the *Naturalist Method* wasn’t exclusive of magic. In fact, the method was a guideline for thought and steps for discovery, which worked as well for magic as mundane investigations.