The Opus Majus (Latin for "Greater Work") is the most important work of Roger Bacon. It was written in Medieval Latin, at the request of Pope Clement IV, to explain the work that Bacon had undertaken. The 878-page treatise ranges over all aspects of natural science, from grammar and logic to mathematics, physics, and philosophy. Bacon sent his work to the Pope in 1267. It was followed later the same year by a smaller second work, his Opus Minus, which was intended as an abstract or summary of the longer work, followed shortly by a third work, Opus Tertium, as a preliminary introduction to the other two.
Contents
The Opus Majus is divided into seven parts:
Part one considers the obstacles to real wisdom and truth, classifying the causes of error (offendicula) into four categories: following a weak or unreliable authority, custom, the ignorance of others, and concealing one's own ignorance by pretended knowledge.
Part two considers the relationship between philosophy and theology, concluding that theology (and particularly Holy Scripture) is the foundation of all sciences.
Part three contains a study of Biblical languages: Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic, as a knowledge of language and grammar is necessary to understand revealed wisdom.
Part four contains a study of Mathematics: As part of the study, he vividly drew out the flaws in the Julian Calendar, proposing to drop a day every 125 years from 325 CE (Council of Nicaea). He also noted the shifting of the Equinoxes to the Solstices.
