Read complete books and articles on: Francis Bacon

Bacon, Francis - 1561–1626, English philosopher, essayist, and statesman, b. London, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at Gray's Inn. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper to Queen Elizabeth I. Francis Bacon was a member of Parliament in 1584 and his opposition to Elizabeth's tax program retarded his political advancement; only the efforts of the earl of Essex led Elizabeth to accept him as an unofficial member of her Learned Council. At Essex's trial in 1601, Bacon, putting duty to the state above friendship, assumed an active part in the prosecution—a course for which many have condemned him. With the succession of James I, Bacon's fortunes improved. He was knighted in 1603, became attorney general in 1613, lord keeper in 1617, and lord chancellor in 1618; he was created Baron Verulam in 1618 and Viscount St. Albans in 1621. In 1621, accused of accepting bribes as lord chancellor, he pleaded guilty and was fined £40,000, banished from the court, disqualified from holding office, and sentenced to the Tower of London. The banishment, fine, and imprisonment were remitted. Nevertheless, his career as a public servant was ended. He spent the rest of his life writing in retirement. Bacon belongs to both philosophy and literature. He projected a large philosophical work, the Instauratio Magna, but completed only two parts, The Advancement of Learning (1605), later expanded in Latin as De Augmentis Scientiarum (1623), and the Novum Organum (1620). Bacon's contribution to philosophy was his application of the inductive method of modern science. He urged full investigation in all cases, avoiding theories based on insufficient data. He has been widely censured for being too mechanical, failing to carry his investigations to their logical ends, and not staying abreast of the scientific knowledge of his own day. In the 19th cent., Macaulay initiated a movement to restore Bacon's prestige as a scientist. Today his contributions are regarded with considerable respect. In The New Atlantis (1627) he describes a scientific utopia that found partial realization with the organization of the Royal Society in 1660. His Essays (1597–1625), largely aphoristic, are his best-known writings. They are noted for their style and for their striking observations about life.

See his works (14 vol., 1857–74, repr. 1968); biography by L. Jardine and A. Stewart (1999); studies by J. Weinberger (1985) and P. Urbach (1987); D. W. Davies and E. S. Wrigley, ed., Concordance to the Essays of Francis Bacon (1973).

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15 of the Best Books and Articles on: Francis Bacon

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma » Read Now
by Michael Peppiatt. 366 pgs.

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"A balanced, intelligent book that illuminates Bacon's paintings with an objectivity & perceptiveness for which the work cries out.... This book contributes significantly to the literature." Nicholas Fox Weber Los Angeles Times Book Review "Peppiatt calls himself the Boswell to Bacon's Samuel...
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"A balanced, intelligent book that illuminates Bacon's paintings with an objectivity & perceptiveness for which the work cries out.... This book contributes significantly to the literature." Nicholas Fox Weber Los Angeles Times Book Review "Peppiatt calls himself the Boswell to Bacon's Samuel Johnson, the amanuensis who tags along just about everywhere & records his mentor's every word. Overblown it might sound, this is just what Peppiatt has achieved." David D'Arcy Newsday "Pleasurable reading.... Peppiatt has done some original work." John Russell New York Times Book Review
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2.

Francis Bacon: His Career and His Thought » Read Now
by Fulton H. Anderson. 370 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

...THE ARENSBERG LECTURES SECOND SERIES FRANCIS BACON THE ARENSBERG LECTURES Edited by W. H...Facets of the Renaissance SECOND SERIES: Francis Bacon: His Career and His...
3.

The Advancement of Learning and New Atlantis » Read Now
by Francis Bacon. 302 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

...LEARNING AND NEW ATLANTIS By FRANCIS BACON With a Preface by THOMAS CASE...PRESS London New York Toronto FRANCIS BACON Born, London 22 January 1560-1...OF LEARNING THE...
4.

Francis Bacon's New Atlantis: New Interdisciplinary Essays » Read Now
by Bronwen Price. 209 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library
5.

Francis Bacon's Philosophy of Science: An Account and a Reappraisal » Read Now
by Peter Urbach. 209 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, History, Entire Library
6.

Francis Bacon and the Transformation of Early-Modern Philosophy » Read Now
by Stephen Gaukroger. 249 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

This ambitious and important book provides the first truly general account of Francis Bacon as a philosopher. It explores in detail how and why Bacon attempted to transform the largely esoteric discipline of natural philosophy into a public practice through a program in which practical science...
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This ambitious and important book provides the first truly general account of Francis Bacon as a philosopher. It explores in detail how and why Bacon attempted to transform the largely esoteric discipline of natural philosophy into a public practice through a program in which practical science provided a model that inspired many from the 17th to the 20th centuries. This book will be recognized as a major contribution to Baconian scholarship of special interest to historians of early modern philosophy, science, and ideas.
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7.

Francis Bacon's Intellectual Milieu » Read Now
by Virgil K. Whitaker. 29 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library
8.

Fault Lines and Controversies in the Study of Seventeenth-Century English Literature ("The Ahistoricism of the New Historicism: Knowledge as Power versus Power as Knowledge in Bacon's New Atlantis" begins on p. 22) » Read Now
by Ted-Larry Pebworth, Claude J. Summers. 236 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library
9.

A House Built on Sand: Exposing Postmodernist Myths About Science (Chap. 12 "In Defense of Bacon") » Read Now
by Noretta Koertge. 326 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

Cultural critics say that "science is politics by other means," arguing that the results of scientific inquiry are profoundly shaped by the ideological agendas of powerful elites. They base their claims on historical case studies purporting to show the systematic intrusion of sexist, racist...
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Cultural critics say that "science is politics by other means," arguing that the results of scientific inquiry are profoundly shaped by the ideological agendas of powerful elites. They base their claims on historical case studies purporting to show the systematic intrusion of sexist, racist, capitalist, colonialist and/or professional interests into the very content of science. Physicist Alan Sokal recently poked fun at these claims by foisting a sly parody of the genre on the unwitting editors of the cultural studies journal Social Text touching off a still unabated torrent of editorials, articles, and heated classroom and Internet discussion. This hard-hitting collection picks up where Sokal left off. The essayists offer crisp and detailed critiques of case studies offered by the cultural critics as evidence that scientific results tell us more about social context than they do about the natural world. Pulling no punches, they identify numerous crude factual blunders (e.g. that Newton never performed any experiments) and egregious errors of emission, such as the attempt to explain the slow development of fluid dynamics solely in terms of gender bias. Where there are positive aspects of a flawed account, or something to be learned from it, they do not hesitate to say so. Their target is shoddy scholarship. Comprising new essays by distinguished scholars of history, philosophy, and science (including Sokal himself), this book raises a lively debate to a new level of seriousness.
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10.

Humanism and Early Modern Philosophy (Chap. 7 "The Myth of Francis Bacon's 'Anti-Humanism'") » Read Now
by Jill Kraye, M. W. F. Stone. 270 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

This is an original and timely volume that examines the distinctive and important role played by humanism in the development of early modern philosophy. Focusing on individual authors as well as intellectual trends, this collection of essays portrays the humanist movement as an essential part of the...
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This is an original and timely volume that examines the distinctive and important role played by humanism in the development of early modern philosophy. Focusing on individual authors as well as intellectual trends, this collection of essays portrays the humanist movement as an essential part of the philosophy of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
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11.

The Domination of Nature (Chap. 3 "Francis Bacon") » Read Now
by William Leiss. 242 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

Scientists, social thinkers, public officials, and the public have been aroused by the recognition that failure to understand the destructive impact of industrial society and advanced technologies on the delicate balance of organic life in the global ecosystem may result in devastating problems for...
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Scientists, social thinkers, public officials, and the public have been aroused by the recognition that failure to understand the destructive impact of industrial society and advanced technologies on the delicate balance of organic life in the global ecosystem may result in devastating problems for future generations. William Leiss argues that this global predicament must be understood in terms of deeply rooted attitudes towards nature. He traces the origins, development, and social consequences of an idea whose imprint is everywhere in modern thought: the idea of the domination of nature. Originally published in 1972, The Domination of Nature was part of the first wave of widespread environmental issues. In an extensive new preface explains why his study is as relevant as ever.
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12.

The Renaissance and Seventeenth-Century Rationalism (Chap. 4 "Francis Bacon and Man's Two-Faced Kingdom") » Read Now
by G. H. R. Parkinson. 444 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library
13.

The Kingdom of Science: Literary Utopianism and British Education, 1612-1870 (Chap. Three "Bacon's Commonwealth Offspring") » Read Now
by Paul A. Olson. 375 pgs.

Collections: Education, Entire Library
14.

Absolutism and the Scientific Revolution, 1600-1720: A Biographical Dictionary ("Bacon, Francis (1561-1626)" begins on p. 12) » Read Now
by Christopher Baker. 450 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This book--the sixth volume in The Great Cultural Eras of the Western World series--provides information on more than 400 individuals who created and played a role in the era's intellectual and cultural activity. The book's focus is on cultural figures--those whose inventions and discoveries...
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This book--the sixth volume in The Great Cultural Eras of the Western World series--provides information on more than 400 individuals who created and played a role in the era's intellectual and cultural activity. The book's focus is on cultural figures--those whose inventions and discoveries contributed to the scientific revolution, those whose line of reasoning contributed to secularism, groundbreaking artists like Rembrandt, lesser known painters, and contributors to art and music.
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15.

The Religious Foundations of Francis Bacon's Thought » Read Now
by Stephen A. McKnight. 194 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Philosophy, Entire Library