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Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
On January 22, 1561, English
philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, essayist, and
author Sir Francis
Bacon was born. Bacon has been called
the creator of empiricism. His works established
and popularized inductive methodologies for scientific inquiry.
“Knowledge, that tendeth but to
satisfaction, is but as a courtesan, which is for pleasure, and not
for fruit or generation.”
— Francis Bacon, as quoted in Valerius Terminus: Of the
Interpretation of Nature (ca. 1603)
Scholasticism vs Empiricism
How did science work before Francis
Bacon? Today, the scientific method of empiricism has become a
common knowledge. We observe nature and based on our observation,
we try to find out about underlying principles, laws, or systems.
Vice versa, via logical conclusions we derive a theoretical system,
which we try to validate via observations. Fair enough, but science
did not work that way all the time throughout history. Just think
about the middle ages. In the middle ages, science was dominated
by the method of scholasticism. Scholasticism
means that you always try to refer to authoritative sources,
whenever you are in question. In the Christian middle ages of
course ‘authoritative sources’ referred to the writings of
Aristotle, the Fathers of the Church and
finally the Holy Bible. Whenever you made a hypothesis,
you tried to find a logical chain of consequences and inferences
leading to one of the canonical sources. On the other hand, you can
find contradictions in the same way. As an obvious fact,
scholasticism means that the world as well as the view of the world
is fixed by its canonical interpretations and cannot be changed. In
consequence, this might easily become an obstacle for scientific
progress.
Francis Bacon – Early Years
Francis Bacon was born on 22
January 1561 at York House near the Strand in London, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon by
his second wife, Anne. Owing to his poor health, which would plague
him throughout his life, Bacon was first educated at home. In 1573,
he entered Trinity College,
Cambridge, where he followed the then usual medieval
curriculum. Bacon’s studies brought him to the belief that the
methods and results of science as practized following the principle
of scholasticism were erroneous. His reverence for Aristotle conflicted with his
loathing of Aristotelian philosophy, which
seemed to him barren, disputatious, and wrong in its
objectives.
Professional Career
During his following travels in
France, Italy, and Spain as a part of the English ambassador’s
suite, Bacon studied language, statecraft, and civil law while
performing routine diplomatic tasks. In 1582, Bacon was entitled a
barrister, but although his career at court was successful, he had
other political and philosophical ambitions. In 1591 Bacon
befriended the Earl of Essex to whom Bacon offered the friendly
advice. Essex in turn recommended Bacon for several high offices
without, however, attaining any position. The relationship ended
tragically in a failure of an expedition by Essex and his later
attempted coup d’etat, which cost the head of
Bacon’s protector, Essex, in 1604. However, Bacon was then steadily
promoted to a series of offices, including Solicitor General
(1607), Attorney General (1613), and eventually Lord Chancellor
(1618).
The Novum Organum
But, Bacon’s real interests lay in
science. Scholasticism was based on the work of the ancient Greek
philosopher Aristotle. While many Aristotelian ideas, such as the
position of the earth at the centre of the universe, had been
overturned, his methodology was still being used. This held that
scientific truth could be reached by way of authoritative argument:
if sufficiently clever men discussed a subject long enough, the
truth would eventually be discovered. Bacon challenged this,
arguing that truth required evidence from the real world. He
published his ideas, initially in ‘Novum Organum‘ (1620), an
account of the correct method of acquiring natural knowledge.
Francis Bacon and William Brouncker
flanking a bust of King Charles II set on a pedestal, surrounded by
signs and symbols of scientific learning in a rooftop room at
Gresham College. Engraving by W. Hollar, 1667.
The Organisation of Knowledge
Francis Bacon developed the idea
that a classification of knowledge must be universal while handling
all possible resources. In his progressive view, humanity would be
better if the access to educational resources were provided to the
public. Hence the need to organize it. His approach to learning
reshaped the Western view of our knowledge theory from an
individual to a social interest. The original classification
proposed by Bacon organized all types of knowledge in three general
groups: history, poetry, and philosophy. He did that based on his
understanding of how we process information: Memory, Imagination, and Reason, respectively. His methodical
approach to the categorization of knowledge goes hand in hand with
his principles of scientific methods. We owe Bacon, not only
his inductive approach to science, but his efforts to bring his
meticulous and systematic vision to the organization of information
which was the platform for further research and advancement for
centuries after him.
Later Years
While serving as Chancellor, Bacon
was indicted on charges of bribery and forced to leave public
office. After pleading guilty, he was heavily fined and sentenced
to a prison term in the Tower of London. He was a disgraced and
fallen man. He then retired to his estate where he devoted himself
full time to his continuing literary, scientific, and philosophical
work. He died in 1626 of pneumonia contracted whilst testing
his theory of the preservative and insulating properties of
snow.
“Those who have taken upon them
to lay down the law of nature as a thing already searched out and
understood, whether they have spoken in simple assurance or
professional affectation, have therein done philosophy and the
sciences great injury. “
— Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, (1620)
Legacy
The cultural legacy left behind by
Francis Bacon includes most of the foundation for the modern world
as we currently know it. To the mysteries surrounding Francis Bacon
counts that he is also a noted contender in the William Shakespeare
Identity debate. According to some scholars Bacon is believed to be
the author of the plays accredited to William Shakespeare.[5] During
the Restoration, Bacon was commonly invoked as a guiding spirit of
the Royal Society founded under
Charles II in 1660. During the 18th-century French Enlightenment,
Bacon’s non-metaphysical approach to science became more
influential than the dualism of his French contemporary
Descartes,[7] and was
associated with criticism of the ancien regime. In 1733
Voltaire [8]
introduced him to a French audience as the “father” of the
scientific method, an understanding which had become widespread by
the 1750s. In the 19th century his emphasis on induction was
revived and developed by William Whewell, among others.
He has been reputed as the “Father of Experimental
Philosophy“.
Arthur F. Holmes, Francis Bacon, A
History of Philosophy, [12]
References and Further
Reading:
[1] Biography of
Francis Bacon at European Graduate School
[2] Francis
Bacon at BBC
[3] Francis Bacon
at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
[4] Sir
Francis Bacon at Elizabethanian Era
[5] Brush Up your
Shakespeare, SciHi Blog
[6] More
articles at SciHi Blog on Philosophy
[7] Cogito Ergo Sum
– The Philosophy of René Descartes, SciHi Blog
[8] Voltaire –
Libertarian and Philosopher, SciHi Blog
[9] Francis Bacon of Verulam. Realistic Philosophy and
its Age by Kuno
Fischer, London 1857
[10]
Works by or about Francis Bacon, via Wikisource
[11] Francis
Bacon at Wikidata
[12] Arthur F. Holmes, Francis Bacon, A
History of Philosophy, wheatoncollege @
youtube
[13] Klein, Jürgen (2012), “Francis Bacon”, in Zalta, Edward N.
(ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy
[14] Bacon, Francis (1902). Devey, Joseph
(ed.). Novum Organum. New York:
Collier. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.17510
[15] Urbach, Peter (1987). Francis Bacon’s Philosophy of Science: An Account and
a Reappraisal. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court
Publishing Co
[16] Timeline for Francis
Bacon, via Wikidata
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