Francis Bacon

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Francis Bacon
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I Life experience
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), a representative of
the Renaissance in England, is a well-known
philosopher, scientist and essayist. He lays the
foundation for modern science with his insistence
on scientific way of thinking and fresh
observation rather than authority as a basis for
obtaining knowledge. Bacon had a fortunate
heritage and background. He studied at Cambridge
and Grays Inn, entered Parliament,and gradually
established his reputation. But he was later
accused of taking bribes in office. He admitted
accepting presents and retired in disgrace.
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II Works

• Essays ???
• The Advancement of Learning ?????
• Novum Organum ???

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1. Essays ???

• The first example of that genre in English
  literature
• An important landmark in the development of
  English prose.

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2. The Advancement of Learning?????

• A great book on education
• He divides knowledge into two kinds. One is the
  knowledge obtained from the Divine Revelation
  the other is the knowledge from the workings of
  human mind.
• According to Bacon, mans understanding consists
  of three parts history to mans memory, poetry
  to mans imagination and creation, and philosophy
  to mans reason.

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3. Novum Organum ???

• A successful treatise written in Latin on
  methodology.
• The argument is for the use of inductive method
  of reasoning in scientific study, i.e. proceeding
  from the particular to the general, in place of
  the Aristotelian method, the deductive reasoning.

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III Features

• He intends to write for the ambitious Elizabethan
  and Jacobean youth of his class and tell them how
  to be efficient and make their way in public
  life. He presents the mode of thought and
  interest of the ruling class in his day.
• More than half of his essays are about public
  life or public duty.
• Bacons essays are famous for their brevity,
  compactness and powerfulness.

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IV Theme
It analyzes what studies chiefly serve for, the
different ways adopted by different people to
pursue studies, and how studies exert influence
over human character.
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V Important Sentences

• Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for
  ability.
• To spend too much time in studies is sloth to
  use them too much for ornament is affection to
  make judgment wholly by their rules is the humor
  of a scholar.
• Read not to contradict and confute, nor to
  believe and take for granted, nor to find talk
  and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some
  books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed,
  and some few to be chewed and digested.

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V Important Sentences
4. Else distilled books are like common distilled
waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man,
conference a ready man, and writing an exact
man. 5. Histories make men wise poets, witty
the mathematics, subtle natural philosophy,
deep moral, grave logic and rhetoric, able to
contend.