Pseudodoxia Epidemica , a mouthful of a title, can be translated as “popular misconceptions”, or, as it was commonly known in its own time, “vulgar errors”. A detailed examination of folk-beliefs and superstitions, “wisdom” handed down from the ancient authorities, and curiosities in natural philosophy, the book was Thomas Browne's contribution to the scientific project of the seventeenth century whichFrancis Bacon inaugurated in 1605 with The Advancement of Learning . That project might be described as a massive housekeeping operation, a concerted effort by all wise persons of discrimination and open mind to cleanse the structure of western learning of the elaborate and unexamined fallacies which had become commonpl

This article in full comprises 666 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

Published 16 June 2003

Citation: Preston, Claire. "Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or Vulgar Errors". The Literary Encyclopedia. 16 June 2003.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2527, accessed 9 February 2010.]