Sir Francis Bacon : Life & Contribution.

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▪︎ Introduction :-

Sir Francis Bacon was one of the prominent figures of Renaissance essayists and the pioneer of empiricism in the school of western philosophy. He believed that science could be achieved only by using sceptical and methodical approach whereby scientists aim to avoid misleading themselves. He was also one of the leading figures in natural philosophy in the transitional period ranging from the Renaissance to the early modern age. He was a lawyer, Member of Parliament, and Queen's Counselor. We find him questioning law, prevalent situations of the state and religion as well. His eyes were seemed to be fixed upon the political dynamics of his time. Various works of him are dedicated to the contemporary ethics and ethos as well as the natural philosophy and scientific reforms. In his own words he points out the connection between science and truth :

 

"Science is but an image of the truth."

Despite studying at some renowned educational institutes like Trinity College and Gray's Inn, London, Bacon did not take up a post at a university, but instead tried to start a political career. Although he was not that much successful during the era of Queen Elizabeth as he was supposed to be, but under the reign of James I he rose to the highest political office; and was an incumbent Lord Chancellor. His fame, sooner or later, was certain to flourish as after his death the English scientists of the Boyle Circle (Invisible College) took up his idea of a comparative research institution in their plans and preparations for establishing the Royal Society.

He, even to the present day, remains leading figure for his philosophical approach on empirical natural philosophy (The Advancement of Learning, Novum Organum Scientiarium) and for his didactic approach to his Four Idols which he put forward in his early writings as well as the idea of modern research institute, which he described in 'Nova Atlantis.'

▪︎ Life :-

Francis Bacon was born on 22nd Jan., 1561 as the second child of Sir Nicholas Bacon who was the Lord Keeper of the Seal and his second wife Lady Anne Cooke. Francis grew up in a context determined by political power, humanist learning, and calvinist zeal. His father had built a new house in Gorhambury in the 1560s, where Bacon was educated for some seven years; later, along with his older brother Anthony, he went to Trinity College in the year of c. 1573-75 where he sharply criticized the scholastic methods of academic training. He was doing academics along with his brother Anthony. Their tutor was John Whitgift, in later life Archbishop of Canterbury. Whitgift provided the brothers with classical texts for their studies such as 'Cicero', 'Demosthenes', 'Hermogenes', 'Livy', 'Sallust', and 'Xenophon.'

When he was studying at Gray's Inn at London in 1576, he was accompanied by Sir Amias Paulet during the years 1577 to 1578. Sir Amias Paulet was the English Ambassador. Peltonen observes :

"During his stay in France, perhaps in autumn 1577, Bacon once visited England as the bearer of diplomatic post, delivering letters to the Walsingham, Burghley, Leicester, and to the Queen herself."

When his father died, he returned to England in 1579. Bacon's small inheritance brought him into financial difficulties and since his uncle, Lord Burghley, could not manage to help him to get a lucrative post as a government official, he embarked on the journey in the sea of politics and began to build political career in the House of Commons, after resuming his studies in Gray's Inn. In 1581, he entered the Commons as a member for Cornwall  and remained a Member of Parliament for thirty-seven years. His involvement in high politics started in 1584, when he wrote his first political memorandum, 'A Letter of Advice to Queen Elizabeth.'

Francis was up to revision of natural philosophy right from his adult-life and following his father's example also tried to secure high political office. Very early on he tried to formulate outlines for a new system of the sciences, emphasizing empirical methods and laying the foundation for an applied science in his 'Scientia Operativa.' Unfortunately, his ideas concerning a reform in the sciences did not get much endorsement from Queen Elizabeth and Lord Burghley.

He was also involved in the political aspects of religious questions, especially confronting the contemporary prevalent conflict between the Church of England and the Nonconformists. From the late 1580s onwards, Bacon turned to the Earl of Essex as his patron. During this phase of his life, he particularly devoted himself to natural philosophy.

▪︎ Bacon's Downfall :-

The beginning of the year 1593 marked Bacon's downfall from his social and political status. His refusal to comply with the queen's request for funds from Parliament. Although he did not vote against granting three subsidies to the government; he demanded that these should be paid over a period of six, rather than three years. This forced two of his friends-cum-companions - Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Robert Cecil - to speak against him in the Parliament. Bacon's patron, the Earl of Essex, for whom he was known to have had served as a close political advisor and informer was not able to mollify the queen's anger over the subsidies; and all the attempts made by Essex to secure a high post for Bacon (attorney-general, solicitor-general) went in vain.

In 1621, he fell victim to an intrigue in Parliament because he had argued against the abuse of monopolies indirectly attacking his friend, the Duke of Buckingham, who was the king's favourite. In order to protect Buckingham, the king sacrificed Bacon, whose enemies had accused him taking bribes in connection with position as a judge. Bacon saw no way out for himself and declared himself guilty. Matthews correctly writes :

"His fall was contrived by his adversaries in Parliament and by the court faction, for which he was a scapegoat to save the Duke of Buckingham not only from public anger but also from open aggression."

▪︎ Death :-

Bacon devoted the last five years of his life - the famous quinquennium - entirely to his philosophical work. He died in April 1626 of pneumonia after experiments with ice.

▪︎ Celebrated Works (Source Wikipedia) :-

Chiefly, the literary works by Francis Bacon are divided into three main branches : (1) Scientific Works, (2) Religious & Literary Works, and (3) Juridical Works.

(1) Scientific Works :

☆ Instauratio Magna ( The Great Instauration) :- In his famous scientific work 'Instauratio Magna', he imitated the Biblical story of Genesis, i.e., six days of creation and thereby divided the great reformatory advancement in scientific methods into six parts :

(i) De Augmentis Scientiarum (Partitions of the Sciences)

(ii) Novum Organum ( New Method)

(iii) Historia Naturalis ( Natural History)

(iv) Scala Intellectus ( Ladder of the Intellect)

(v) Anticipations Philosophiæ Secunda (Anticipations of the Second Philosophy)

(vi) Philosophia Secunda aut Scientia Activæ (The Second Philosophy or Active Science)

He considered science (natural philosophy) as a remedy against superstition, and therefore a "most faithful attendant" of religion, considering religion as the revelation of God's Will and science as the contemplation of God's Power.

Nevertheless, Bacon contrasted the new approach of the development of science with that of the Middle Ages:

"Men have sought to make a world from their own conception and to draw from their own minds all the material which they employed, but if instead of doing so, they had consulted experience and observation, they would have the facts and not opinions to reason about, and might have ultimately arrived at the knowledge of the laws which govern the material world."

☆ Novum Organum ( The New Method) :-

The Novum Organum is a philosophical work by Francis Bacon published in 1620. The title is a reference to Aristotle's work Organon, which was his treatise on logic and syllogism, and is the second part of his Instauration.

The book is divided into two parts, the first part being called "On the Interpretation of Nature and the Empire of Man", and the second "On the Interpretation of Nature, or the Reign of Man".

Bacon starts the work saying that man is " the minister and interpreter of nature", that "knowledge and human power are synonymous", that "effects are produced by the means of instruments and helps", and that "man while operating can only apply or withdraw natural bodies; nature internally performs the rest", and later that "nature can only be commanded by obeying her". Here is an abstract of the philosophy of this work, that by the knowledge of nature and the using of instruments, man can govern or direct the natural work of nature to produce definite results. Therefore, that man, by seeking knowledge of nature, can reach power over it – and thus reestablish the "Empire of Man over creation", which had been lost by the Fall together with man's original purity. In this way, he believed, would mankind be raised above conditions of helplessness, poverty, and mystery, while coming into a condition of peace, prosperity, and security.

Before beginning this induction, though, the enquirer must free his or her mind from certain false notions or tendencies that distort the truth. These are called "Idols" (idola), and are of four kinds:

• "Idols of the Tribe" (idola tribus), which are common to the race;

• "Idols of the Den" (idola specus), which are peculiar to the individual;

• "Idols of the Marketplace" (idola fori), coming from the misuse of language; and

• "Idols of the Theatre" (idola theatri), which stem from philosophical dogmas.

☆ Advancement of Learning :- 'Of Proficience and Advancement of Learning of Divine and Human' was published in 1605, and is written in the form of a letter to King James.This book would be considered the first step in the Great Instauration scale, of "partitions of the sciences".

In this work, which is divided into two books, Bacon starts giving philosophical, civic and religious arguments for the engaging in the aim of advancing learning. In the second book, Bacon analyses the state of the sciences of his day, stating what was being done incorrectly, what should be bettered, in which way should they be advanced.

Among his arguments in the first book, he considered learned kingdoms and rulers to be higher than the unlearned, evoked as example King Solomon, the biblical king who had established a school of natural research, and gave discourses on how knowledge should be used for the "glory of the Creator" and "the relief of man's estate", if only it was governed by charity.

In the second book, he divided human understanding into three parts: history, related to man's faculty of memory; poetry, related to man's faculty of imagination; and philosophy, pertaining to man's faculty of reason. Then he considers the three aspects with which each branch of understanding can relate itself to a divine, human and natural. From the combination of the three branches (history, poetry, and philosophy) and three aspects (divine, human and natural) a series of different sciences are deduced.

(2) Religious & Literary Works :

☆ The New Atlantis :- In 1623, Bacon expressed his aspirations and ideals in New Atlantis. Released in 1627, this was his creation of an ideal land where "generosity and enlightenment, dignity and splendor, piety and public spirit" were the commonly held qualities of the inhabitants of Bensalem. The name "Bensalem" means "Son of Peace", having obvious resemblance with "Bethlehem" (birthplace of Jesus), and is referred to as "God's bosom, a land unknown", in the last page of the work.

☆ Essays :- Bacon's Essays were first published in 1597 as Essayes. Religious Meditations. Places of Perswasion and Disswasion. Seene and Allowed. There were only ten essays in this version, relatively aphoristic and brief in style. A much-enlarged second edition appeared in 1612, with 38 essays. Another, under the title Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall, was published in 1625 with 58 essays. Bacon considered the Essays "but as recreation of my other studies", and they draw on previous writers such as Michel de Montaigne and Aristotle. The Essays were praised by his contemporaries and have remained in high repute ever since; 19th-century literary historian Henry Hallam wrote that :

 "They are deeper and more discriminating than any earlier, or almost any later, work in the English language".

(3) The Juridical Works :-

Among lawyers, Bacon was probably best known for his genius at stating the principles and philosophy of the law in concise, memorable, and quotable aphorisms, and for his efforts as Lord Chancellor to strengthen equity jurisprudence and check the power of the common law judges. As Lord Chancellor under James I, Sir Francis Bacon presided over the equity courts as the "Keeper of the King's Conscience."

He consideres Law's fundamental tasks to be :

• To secure men's persons from death;

• To dispose of the property of their goods and lands;

• For preservation of their good names from shame and infamy.

He considers the functions of law in a public speech on 26 February 1593 as :

"Laws are made to guard the rights of the people, not to feed the lawyers. The laws should be read by all, known to all. Put them into shape, inform them with philosophy, reduce them in bulk, give them into every man's hand."

▪︎ Some of his popular quotes :-

(1) Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

(2) In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.

(3) Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by tales, so is the other.

(4) Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.

(5) He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator.

Thank You!

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