Francis Bacon

Introduction
No one disputes the tremendous importance of Francis Bacon in the context of early modern natural, moral, and legal philosophy, but assessments of that importance in the long term, and of the man himself, have been subject to considerable debate. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Bacon’s empiricism, specifically his inductive method, was viewed as leading inexorably to modern science; for others, however, Bacon’s larger “reformation of learning” had little to do with the “new science” that ensued. In the 20th century, Theodor Adorno acknowledged Bacon’s importance but criticized the idea he was said to have originated, of a science based on the domination of nature—a view that was reiterated, with some variation, by feminist and eco-minded scholars in the 1980s and later. Meanwhile, Bacon’s moral character as well as his political career were also in doubt, beginning with Thomas Macaulay’s demolition of him in 1837, but recent decades have witnessed a rehabilitation of the man and his work. Whatever the opinion held, the range of Bacon’s thought is so encompassing as to extend across the disciplines, eliciting scholarship from historians of science to political and literary scholars. The following bibliography reflects this range, even if the categories are somewhat arbitrarily imposed and most books move across the boundaries of Bacon’s life and thought. On a final note, the role of Bacon in the ongoing Shakespeare authorship debates has been omitted because it is dismissed by most scholars; for that subject, interested students should nevertheless consult James Shapiro, Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010).
Bibliographies and Reference Guides
Bacon can be found in virtually any reference work that covers philosophy, science, or the history of ideas. Klein 2011 provides a good online reference, as does Rossi 1973–1974, also online. For guides to his work, Gibson 1950 is the authoritative source for the editions up through 1750, while the Bibliography of British and Irish History provides the best gateway to secondary sources of the past and present.
Bibliography of British and Irish History.
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Formerly known as the Royal Historical Society Bibliography and hosted by University of London’s Institute of Historical Research, this definitive database, updated three times a year, provides excellent search capabilities for articles and books written on Bacon. Available by institutional or personal subscription.
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Gibson, Reginald W. Francis Bacon: A Bibliography of His Works and Baconiana to the Year 1750. Oxford: Scrivener, 1950.
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An extremely useful bibliography of nearly seven hundred entries covering Bacon’s works, including foreign language editions, as well as Baconiana, or scholarship that alluded to Bacon through the 18th century. An excellent index and clear layout make this an especially accessible guide for the student and specialist alike.
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Klein, Juergen. “Francis Bacon.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edited by Edward N. Zalta. 2011.
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A scholarly online resource that contains a good entry on Bacon and his ideas, in addition to primary and secondary source references.
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Rossi, Paolo. “Baconianism.” Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas. Vol. 1, Abstraction in the Formation of Concepts to Design Argument. Edited by Philip P. Wiener, 172–179. New York: Scribners, 1973–1974.
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A very good entry with extensive annotated bibliography. Emphasis in particular on the afterlife and influence of Bacon’s ideas across the centuries. Available online through the University of Virginia Library.
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Primary Sources
The following highly selective sources are intended to direct the student to the most basic and accessible editions of Bacon’s work. Oxford University Press, via the Oxford Francis Bacon, is in the process of releasing a projected fifteen-volume edition of Bacon’s works, which will be the most definitive collection since Bacon 1968, first released in the 19th century. Among these works, Bacon 1996 represents Bacon’s scientific thoughts, with Bacon 2000a his great treatise on induction and natural theology. Bacon 2000b represents the thinker’s essayistic ruminations on civil and social matters, and Bacon 2000c, Bacon 2004, and Bacon 2007 parts of the colossal work known as theInstauratio Magna. Finally, Farrington 1964 offers some of his more obscure essays.
Bacon, Francis. The Works of Francis Bacon. 14 vols. Edited by James Spedding, Robert L. Ellis, and Douglas D. Heath. New York: Garrett, 1968.
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The still-standard if sometimes-flawed edition of Bacon’s philosophical, political, literary, and legal works, with translations of the most important Latin works; volumes eight through fourteen comprise Bacon’s life and letters. Originally published in 1857–1874.
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Bacon, Francis. Philosophical Studies, c. 1611–c. 1619. Edited by Graham Rees. Translated by Graham Rees and Michael Edwards. Oxford Francis Bacon 6. Oxford: Clarendon, 1996.
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A facing-page translation and critical edition containing six of Bacon’s scientific works written between 1611 and 1619, reflecting Bacon’s evolving thoughts on the interaction between spirit and the “tangible appetites” as well as his examination of the experimental and speculative method and other essential aspects of his science.
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Bacon, Francis. The History of the Reign of King Henry VII and Selected Works. Edited by Brian Vickers. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139171212Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Contains Bacon’s classic work on Henry VII as well as fragmentary histories on Henry VIII, Edward, and Mary, and political selections from his essays. Includes an introduction describing the historiographical frameworks that underlay such studies.
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Bacon, Francis. The Advancement of Learning. Edited by Michael Kiernan. Oxford Francis Bacon 4. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000a.
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An excellent annotated edition of Bacon’s major work of natural theology and inductive reasoning; provides extensive contextualization, including the classical, biblical, and contemporary allusions to which the treatise refers.
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Bacon, Francis. The Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall. Edited by Michael Kiernan. Oxford Francis Bacon 10. Oxford University Press, 2000b.
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The first critical edition published since the 19th century, this work provides extensive critical apparatus to frame and contextualize the essays, which were intended to provide, in the editor’s words, “a candid analysis of human nature and pragmatic assessment of political and social behaviour” of those engaged in “civil business” (pp. xix–xx). Originally published in 1985 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
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Bacon, Francis. Instauratio Magna: Last Writings. Edited and translated by Graham Rees. Oxford Francis Bacon 13. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000c.
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Seven texts contained in the last stages of the Instauratio Magna are reprinted here, including three that have never been published. Critical apparatus includes an introduction that delineates the work’s textual history as well as annotated commentaries throughout.
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Bacon, Francis. Instauratio Magna. Part 2, Novum Organum and Associated Texts. Edited and translated by Graham Rees and Maria Wakely. Oxford Francis Bacon 11. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
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The republication and translation of the Instauratio Magna continues with this volume, with introduction, notes, and commentary. Includes the Novum Organum, constituting the second part of the larger work and one that most fully delineates the new system of inductive reasoning and logic.
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Bacon, Francis. Instauratio Magna. Part 3, Historia Naturalis et Experimentalis: Historia Ventorum and Historia Vitæ & Mortis. Edited and translated by Graham Rees and Maria Wakely. Oxford Francis Bacon 12. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
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Contains facing-page translations of the three natural history texts as well as commentaries, with appendices, bibliographical description, and a select bibliography.
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Farrington, Benjamin, ed. The Philosophy of Francis Bacon: An Essay on Its Development from 1603 to 1609. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press, 1964.
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A translation of three Latin works, “The Masculine Birth of Time,” “Thoughts and Conclusions,” and “The Refutation of Philosophies,” with a penetrating introduction to Bacon’s thought that includes correctives to various misconceptions regarding the philosopher.
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Secondary Source Collections
Bacon is represented by many very good essay collections, most of which represent a variety of interdisciplinary approaches. Students and specialists might start with these volumes, which also provide excellent entry points into the enormously diverse range of his thought. Vickers 1968 is an older yet still important collection, while Peltonen 1996 provides perhaps the best of the studies, andSolomon and Martin 2005 offers an even more recent sampling. Sessions 1990 assumes a more specialized and scholarly approach, while Fattori 1984 presents a good sampling of sometimes-overlooked aspects of Bacon, and Malherbe and Pousseur 1985 provides a wide-ranging collection of international perspectives, particularly centered on the Novum Organum.
Fattori, Marta, ed. Francis Bacon: Terminologia e Fortuna nel XVII Secolo. Rome: Ateneo, 1984.
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A international and interesting collection of essays that covers a range of Baconiana, including Penelope Gouk on music in Bacon’s natural philosophy, Brian Vickers on Bacon’s utilitarianism, and Paolo Rossi on “Ants, Spiders, Epistemologists” (pp. 245–260).
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Malherbe, Michel, and Jean-Marie Pousseur, eds. Francis Bacon Science et Methode: Actes du Colloque de Nantes. Paris: Vrin, 1985.
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A fine exposition of Bacon’s method, represented by a number of conference-originating essays centered in particular on the Novum Organum, with contributions by Lisa Jardine, Michelle Le Doeuff, Marta Fattori, and other prominent Bacon scholars.
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Peltonen, Markku, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Bacon. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
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An outstanding and definitive collection of essays by leading Bacon scholars including Brian Vickers on rhetoric; Graham Rees on Bacon’s speculative philosophy; Paolo Rossi, Sachiko Kusukawa, and Michel Malherbe on Bacon’s science; and other important contributions. Includes very useful and lengthy bibliography.
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Sessions, William A., ed. Francis Bacon’s Legacy of Texts: “The Art of Discovery Grows with Discovery.” New York: AMS, 1990.
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A learned collection of essays that examines the “generative processes in Bacon’s texts” (p. 4), that is, the manner in which they were informed by his epistemological theory and method, his critique of logic, his study of nature, and other particular aspects of thought that informed his work.
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Solomon, Julie Robin, and Catherine Gimelli Martin, eds. Francis Bacon and the Refiguring of Early Modern Thought: Essays to Commemorate the Advancement of Learning (1605–2005). Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005.
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Representing a good sampling of the best recent scholarship on Bacon, this volume of essays seeks to place Bacon’s thought and practices in the context of existing and emerging early modern fields and discourses of knowledge. Focusing especially on Bacon’s forging of intellectual disciplines and asking whether his is a unified system of thought, scholars cover his natural philosophy, ethics, politics, legal thinking, and other fields of inquiry.
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Vickers, Brian, ed. Essential Articles for the Study of Francis Bacon. Hamden, CT: Archon, 1968.
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A compendium of the most important articles on Bacon up to 1968, published elsewhere and collected under the editorship of one of the leading Bacon scholars. Bacon the scientist, as well as his views on the law, politics, and history, and his status as a writer, are all covered in this excellent and required collection.
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Biographies
While the task of any biographer is to balance the life with the work, Bacon presents an especially difficult challenge, particularly in the apparent contradictions between his active (and at times corrupt) political career and the “purity” of his philosophical ideas, or what Macaulay called the union of his “high intelligence with low desires.” Equally problematic is the issue of Bacon’s influence on modernity—an issue that is reflected elsewhere in this bibliography. The following biographies represent both older and more recent accounts of the man, while also reflecting what Paolo Rossi once described as the “glorifications and denigrations” that constituted assessments of the man.Bowen 1993 represents a now-classic and popular reconsideration of Bacon’s life, and Fattori 2005is a concise history, with Jardine and Stewart 1999 offering a lengthy evocation of the man. Zagorin 1998 also offers a significant overall appraisal, with Crowther 1960 delving more deeply into the ideas, and Quinton 1980 also offering up an intellectual as well as personal history, albeit from a somewhat critical perspective. Finally, Vickers 1978 and Sessions 1996 represent a recounting of the life from two of the more significant Bacon scholars presently working; another important scholar and his assessment of Bacon can be found in Peltonen 2004.
Bowen, Catherine Drinken. Francis Bacon: The Temper of a Man. New York: Fordham University Press, 1993.
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An accessible and popular introduction to Bacon’s life, first appearing in 1963, emphasizing the consistencies and contradictions that existed between Bacon the political and legal operative and Bacon the contemplative thinker and theoretician.
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Crowther, James G. Francis Bacon: The First Statesman of Science. London: Cresset, 1960.
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Divided into two parts, with a survey of Bacon’s work followed by a narrative biography, this accessible introduction focuses primarily on the philosopher’s conception of science and society and argues, among other points, that Bacon anticipated the emergence of a socialist rather than capitalist state system, and as such “became the greatest prophet of the modern world” (p. xi).
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Fattori, Marta. Introduzione a Francis Bacon. 3d ed. Rome: Laterza, 2005.
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A good and relatively concise synthesis of Bacon’s life and thought by a leading scholar in the field, utilizing the more recent historiography and editions of his work. Useful bibliography included.
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Jardine, Lisa, and Alan Stewart. Hostage to Fortune: The Troubled Life of Francis Bacon. New York: Hill and Wang, 1999.
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A large and detailed biography that reconstitutes the life from the many documents and texts, including correspondences, left behind by Bacon. The political career, including its unsavory aspects, is treated, as is his personal life and alleged homosexuality, although scholarly analysis of his natural philosophy and other subjects are excluded.
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Peltonen, Markku. “Bacon, Francis, Viscount St Alban (1561–1626).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Brian Harrison. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
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An extensive and unmatched encyclopedia entry on the life and works of Bacon, written by one of the leading scholars of the subject, including a thorough assessment of Bacon’s philosophical, scientific, and literary productions. Available online by subscription.
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Quinton, Anthony. Francis Bacon. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.
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Part of Oxford’s Past Masters series, this work offers a brief and accessible exposition of Bacon’s ideas as well as his life. Includes bibliography.
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Sessions, William A. Francis Bacon Revisited. New York: Twayne, 1996.
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An excellent introduction to (and positive treatment of) Bacon’s life and thought, including his political career, and centered on the thesis that Bacon’s texts reflected an emergent subjectivity as well as other contemporary historical developments. Bacon’s literary productions, including his essays, are treated alongside his legal and increasingly radical scientific and epistemological works.
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Vickers, Brian. Francis Bacon. Harlow, UK: Longman, 1978.
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A very short (forty-five-page) and largely positive essay on Bacon and his work, covering his career under James I as well as his work, touching on such works as the Advancement of Learning and theNew Atlantis.
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Zagorin, Perez. Francis Bacon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998.
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Surveying Bacon’s life and thought, with emphasis on the latter, Zagorin provides a largely nonpartisan synthesis that proves especially strong in its readings of the Essays, New Atlantis, and Henry VII, while also engaging with other scholars’ contentions regarding Bacon’s notion of science, law, language, and knowledge.
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Journals
Bacon not only appears in journals that cover the early modern period, but also—as this bibliography reflects—in more specialized legal, scientific, and literary publications. The Journal of the History of Ideas, however, has been perhaps the most prominent in its coverage of Bacon and the historical debates he has engendered. As for the publication titled Baconiana, published by the Bacon Society, students should be warned that the journal’s primary aims are to establish Bacon as the author behind Shakespeare, rendering it a biased and somewhat unreliable source.
Baconiana.1893–.
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The official journal of the Francis Bacon Society, available now in an electronic edition, with some useful scholarly articles, although overshadowed by its tendency to claim Bacon as the author of many of Shakespeare’s plays—a claim discounted by most literary scholars.
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Journal of the History of Ideas. 1940–.
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Published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, this journal has offered particularly strong coverage of Bacon and his ideas in a range of important articles over the years.
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Bacon and Science
Bacon sought out a complete reform of learning and one that fell under a master principle or general theory that would encompass logic, epistemology, and natural philosophy. This “grand edifice” or Great Instauration, was the result of his ambition—an unfinished summa that nevertheless bequeathed to posterity its component parts, including the Advancement of Learning and the Novum Organum. In these and other works, Bacon proceeded not only to classify types of learning but to reclassify knowledge itself, just as his doctrine of the idols (or theories of error) and method of induction were to give rise to an empiricism that also advanced an entirely new means of knowing and one that overturned “obsolete” tradition, including much of Aristotelian logic and dialectic. Equally important was Bacon’s method of induction, which also overturned Aristotle and was to provide a new way of knowing and of extracting truths from nature—even if this version of induction was itself questioned (if not rejected) in the end.
BACON’S NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
Bacon’s writing on natural philosophy can be extremely complex at times (and written in Latin), but many secondary works delineate his ideas with clarity. Broad 1976 is a classic study that lucidly explains Bacon’s method of induction and other aspects of his “complete science,” with Anderson 1948 also constituting a much-cited source, albeit one with less interpretation and explication than the others. Pérez-Ramos 1988 and Farrington 1949 offer different interpretations of a similar theme, centering on the connection between Bacon’s philosophy and its practical effects, whether it be the harnessing of knowledge to practice, in the former case, or the latter’s assertion that for Bacon, “knowledge ought to bear fruit in works” (p. 3). Meanwhile, Rossi 1968 describes Bacon’s thought in the context of contemporary hermeticism; Gaukroger 2001 emphasizes the transformative effect of Bacon on early modern philosophy; and Prior 1954 locates Bacon’s “new scientist” in the scheme of the philosophy.
Anderson, Fulton H. The Philosophy of Francis Bacon. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948.
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A thorough and much-cited exposition of the phases of Bacon’s philosophy, including the Great Instauration and its various related projects. Anderson presents most of the philosophy on its own terms with little interpretation, however, which may constrain the beginner in terms of the more difficult of Bacon’s doctrines.
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Broad, C. D. The Philosophy of Francis Bacon: An Address Delivered at Cambridge on the Occasion of the Bacon Tercentenary, 5 October 1926. New York: Octagon, 1976.
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A classic lecture on Bacon’s philosophy, considering themes such as Bacon’s inductive method and proposal for a complete science of nature, as well as his classification of human knowledge and human nature. First published in 1926.
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Farrington, Benjamin. Francis Bacon: Philosopher of Industrial Science. New York: Schuman, 1949.
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Centering on the thesis that Bacon represented a turning point between ancient and modern thought by harnessing knowledge to practice, or by embracing the notion that “knowledge ought to bear fruit in works” (p. 3), Farrington proceeds to explore the manner in which Bacon effected his restoration of learning (the Great Instauration) and the general historical context in which his ideas were located.
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Gaukroger, Stephen. Francis Bacon and the Transformation of Early-Modern Philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511612688Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An incisive textual and contextual study of a morally informed Bacon and the manner in which he sought to transform philosophy from a contemplative to an active pursuit, from an individual to collective enterprise.
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Pérez-Ramos, Antonio. Bacon’s Idea of Science and the Maker’s Knowledge Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
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Starting from the thesis that Bacon’s goal was not contemplative truth—which many historians hold to be the case—but the knowledge that emerged in part as the product of the “maker’s” efforts, this work explores aspects of Bacon’s thoughts on forma, opus, and inductio, particularly as they compared with the perspectives of Aristotle, the scholastics, and others.
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Prior, Moody. “Bacon’s Man of Science.” Journal of the History of Ideas 15.3 (1954): 348–370.
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An exposition of Bacon’s “new scientist,” a figure who was to be “rooted in the goals which [Bacon] set up and the methods he proposed,” and who found some degree of embodiment in the men of the Royal Society (p. 348). The relationship between the scientist or “knower” and the problematic aspects of knowledge and certainty are also examined.
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Rossi, Paulo. Francis Bacon: From Magic to Science. Translated by Sacha Rabonovika. London: Routledge, 1968.
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A stimulating work that treats Bacon’s writings on natural philosophy and method from theAdvancement of Learning in 1605 to the Novum Organum in 1620 and examines them within the context of wider Renaissance notions of hermeticism, magic, and science.
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SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND THE THEORY OF INDUCTION
Bacon’s system of induction was central to the Great Instauration and to the Novum Organumspecifically and was thereafter held by him to be the key to understanding and interpreting nature properly. Indeed, the manner in which one moved from sense-based particulars up to the most general propositions before moving back through deduction to “intermediate” propositions was the foundation of Bacon’s method and represented the turn away from both deductive logic and Aristotle’s own inductive theories. This is not to say, however, that induction actually contributed to new scientific knowledge (or scientific achievement for that matter), despite figures such as Newton and Darwin identifying themselves as Baconian. The following works, which also delve into natural philosophy, are valuable in their explications of induction, with Dickie 1922 contrasting Bacon and Aristotle’s method, and Horton 1973 answering to the Baconian critics. For a highly detailed exposition of induction in general—including Bacon’s own formulation of it—Cohen 1970 provides a very good account. While Urbach 1987 discusses the larger philosophy, Bacon’s inductive methods also come in for scrutiny.
Cohen, L. Jonathan. The Implications of Induction. London: Methuen, 1970.
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A sometimes difficult book intended primarily for philosophy students and specialists, but valuable for the manner in which the author delineates the logic of induction before proceeding to its different manifestations, including Bacon’s own induction by enumeration.
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Dickie, William M. “A Comparison of the Scientific Method and Achievement of Aristotle and Bacon.” Philosophical Review 31 (1922): 471–494.
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A detailed yet readable essay that compares Aristotle’s modes of induction and his emphasis on “paying attention to the facts of experience” (p. 473) as well as his “apriorism” (p. 476) with Bacon’s own inductive method and natural philosophy.
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Horton, Mary. “In Defense of Francis Bacon: A Criticism of the Critics of the Inductive Method.” Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 4.3 (1973): 241–278.
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Horton not only presents a convincing case against critics of the inductive method but also offers a good description and analysis of Bacon’s experimental principles in general. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Urbach, Peter. Francis Bacon’s Philosophy of Science: An Account and a Reappraisal. La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1987.
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A critical and highly detailed scientific analysis of Bacon’s thought, refuting common misperceptions by arguing, among other points, that Bacon utilized an inductive method, with hypotheses, or axioms, and factual “particulars” included in his experimental science.
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GENDER AND THE “BACON DEBATES”
One of the most heated debates of recent years has centered on the meaning and language with which Bacon addresses the human relationship with nature, and specifically the question as to whether his mechanistic views and his advocacy of the control conquest, and consequent dominion over nature, led to progress or to ecological and social decline in the long run. At the same time, Bacon’s sometimes-sexually charged metaphors have also provoked debate among feminist critics such as Sandra Harding and Carolyn Merchant. Keller 1985 represents a measured feminist critique of Bacon’s natural philosophy and language, with Landau 1998 offering a critique of these “mis-readings” of metaphor, as does Vickers 2008, which takes on the larger feminist argument. Pesic 1999 also criticizes interpretations of Bacon’s language, particularly as it is centered on the word “torture.” Finally, Merchant 2008 seeks to uncover the gendered implications in Bacon in relation to contemporary practices centered on the “secrets of nature.”
Keller, Evelyn Fox. “Baconian Science: The Arts of Mastery and Obedience.” In Reflections on Gender and Science. By Evelyn Fox Keller, 33–42. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985.
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This chapter offers an insightful discussion of Bacon’s notion of mastery and obedience as well as the male and female, as they worked off each other in his texts. For Keller, Bacon personified nature, urging a “forceful and aggressive seduction” (p. 37) of it (although not a “rape,” as some historians have asserted).
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Landau, Iddo. “Feminist Criticisms of Metaphors in Bacon’s Philosophy of Science.”Philosophy 73.1 (1998): 47–61.
DOI: 10.1017/S0031819197000090Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An answer, based in part on close textual analysis of the original sources, to critics who focus on Bacon’s sexist or gendered metaphors of domination and nature, revealing their claims to be highly problematic. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Merchant, Carolyn. “Secrets of Nature: The Bacon Debates Revisited.” Journal of the History of Ideas 69.1 (2008): 147–162.
DOI: 10.1353/jhi.2008.0000Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Argues for the influence of natural magic and the “secrets of nature” tradition on Bacon’s experimental philosophy, even if Bacon sought to make known that which had been previously hidden. “By reforming the secrets tradition,” Merchant writes, “the anatomy of nature and the anatomy of the body—particularly the ‘secretive’ female body—could be exposed for the benefit of humankind” (p. 151). Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Pesic, Peter. “Wrestling with Proteus: Francis Bacon and the ‘Torture’ of Nature.” Isis 90 (1999): 81–94.
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Working from Bacon’s use of the Proteus myth, the author argues against assertions that Bacon advocated the “torture” of nature, instead depicting man’s relation with nature as a heroic and mutual or commensurate struggle.
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Vickers, Brian. “Francis Bacon, Feminist Historiography, and the Dominion of Nature.”Journal of the History of Ideas 69.1 (2008): 117–141.
DOI: 10.1353/jhi.2008.0007Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A sometimes contentious piece that answers the feminist critique of Bacon (and the scientific revolution) by Carolyn Merchant, Katherine Park, and others, asserting that their response is based on a distorting ressentiment as well as a misunderstanding of Bacon’s metaphors and his notion of dominion over nature. Available online for purchase or by subscription. Students should consultKatherine Park’s response in the same issue.
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BACON AND MODERN SCIENCE
Despite attempts to place Bacon and his ideas about science and nature firmly within the context of the early modern period, scholars continue to either assert his powerful influence on modernity or to hail him as a prophet who—to quote Loren Eisley— “saw through time” (p. 2). Eiseley 1962 assumes a wholly positive approach, asserting that Bacon influenced modern science through his notion of communal scientific practice intended toward wholly beneficial ends, while Adorno and Horkheimer 1972 assumes the opposite stance in its argument that Bacon’s notions of the control of nature led to exploitation and alienation. Weinberger 1985 claims however that Bacon actually foresaw such dangers. Meanwhile, Faulkner 1993, in addition to tracing certain notions of individualism to Bacon, also explores Bacon’s proto-Enlightenment notion of progress, with Solomon 1998 arguing for an emerging modern concept of objectivity under Bacon. Box 1989 assumes the opposite perspective from Faulkner, arguing for the influence of Bacon’s scientific collectivism. For a larger account of Bacon’s radical proto-modernism, Whitney 1986 provides one of the best expositions for the student and specialist, while Henry 2002 offers a popular yet effective account of Bacon’s natural philosophy in the context of the times. Finally, Merton 1961 provides a classic account of the sociology of science, using Bacon to argue for his famous thesis of discovery as a multiple independent event.
Adorno, Theodor W., and Max Horkheimer. Dialectic of Enlightenment. Translated by John Cumming. New York: Herder and Herder, 1972.
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A critique of modernity and the Enlightenment project, relevant to Bacon in its evaluation of him as a spokesman or “patriarch” of a notion of progress that can turn quickly irrational in its advocacy of man “hold[ing] sway over a disenchanted nature” (p. 4). Bacon’s contribution to bourgeois economy is also discussed.
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Box, Ian. The Social Thought of Francis Bacon. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1989.
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Analyzes Bacon’s social thought through perceptive readings of the New Atlantis, the Essays, and other texts, while also exploring the implications of Bacon’s conception of scientific collectivism and inquiry on modernity.
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Eiseley, Loren. Francis Bacon and the Modern Dilemma. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1962.
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Three essays providing an introduction to Bacon, emphasizing his contribution to modernity and his role, according to the author, as the first anthropologist. Popular rather than scholarly in its approach. Full text is available online.
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Faulkner, Robert K. Francis Bacon and the Project of Progress. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1993.
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Utilizing a wide range of Bacon’s writings, Faulkner argues that Bacon was a radical political as well as scientific thinker and one who advocated (however indirectly) for a new vision of individualism (or the self-made man) and the state in a body of work that emphasized human nature as well as nature.
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Henry, John. Knowledge Is Power: How Magic, the Government and an Apocalyptic Vision Inspired Francis Bacon to Create Modern Science. London: Icon, 2002.
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A short and accessible introduction to Bacon’s life and philosophy, with attention paid to the misrepresentations of the man and his thought as well as his attempts to accommodate religion, science, natural magic, and alchemy in the new methodology.
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Merton, Robert K. “Singletons and Multiples in Scientific Discovery: A Chapter in the Sociology of Science.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 105 (1961): 470–486.
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Arguing that Bacon “even made room for what was to become sociology”—and on a larger level the social sciences—in his “charter for the human sciences” (p. 470), Merton provides a classic account of Bacon’s influence on modern science, particularly through analysis of the phenomenon of discovery as a multiple event, even if it appears to be, on the surface, singular.
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Solomon, Julie Robin. Objectivity in the Making: Francis Bacon and the Politics of Inquiry. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.
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Tracing the notion of modern objectivity in part to Bacon—and asking why “any person, institution, or culture would have constructed the idea of scientific objectivity in the first place” (p. xi)—Solomon proceeds to argue that the idea of objectivity emerged as a result of Bacon’s royalist as well as commercial and mercantilist agenda in addition to the influence of his intellectual and social milieu.
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Weinberger, Jerry. Science, Faith, and Politics: Francis Bacon and the Utopian Roots of the Modern Age: A Commentary of Bacon’s Advancement of Learning. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985.
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A reconsideration of Bacon and his influence on the “modern project,” arguing that he not only sought to use science and technology to master nature but also reworked classical political philosophy to foresee (as Nietzsche, Heidegger, and others would) the dangers inherent in that project.
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Whitney, Charles. Francis Bacon and Modernity. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1986.
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A contextually informed work that opposes a unitary reading of Bacon’s work, as it qualifies the extent of Bacon’s innovation in scientific knowledge while also making the case for the radicalism of his conception of language and other strains of thought.
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Bacon: Politics and History
Until his dramatic downfall in 1621, when he was charged with bribery and impeached as Lord Chancellor, Bacon spent most of his career in public life and thus felt personally equipped to expound on political issues and philosophy. But political or civil knowledge was also related to Bacon’s larger program of science and asserted as such in the Advancement of Learning, even if it was left to subsequent scholars to debate the precise relation between the two. Bacon’s history—his vision of history as well as his historical works—also related to his political career (and larger classifications and theories of knowledge), with his History of Henry VII, published a year after his impeachment, intended in part, on a more Machiavellian level, to justify and redeem his own character as counselor. But Henry VII, despite its differing interpretive history, has also been viewed by historians as a work of a more elevated political and moral philosophy as it touched on the nature of kingship as well as constitutionalism, republicanism, the “project of progress,” and other issues of the age.
POLITICAL CAREER AND PHILOSOPHY
Bacon’s career was stunning in its achievements, from his early experience as a young lawyer and member of parliament up through his tenure in the service of the Earl of Essex (whose fall he skillfully survived) and his varied positions in the court of James I, culminating in the lord chancellorship. Not surprisingly, he was a monarchist, or in his words, “a perfect and preemptory royalist.” But for all his advocacy of the king’s prerogative or sovereignty, he also avoided ideological conflicts in his quest for what he called a “balanced constitution,” and in the famous Calvin’s case of 1606 tempered any absolutism by arguing that the law limits the king. The following works discuss these issues, in addition to Bacon’s views on the citizen and the commonwealth, his idea of “civic greatness,” and the relationship between his politics and science. Epstein 1977 lays out the political career, with Martin 1992 analyzing Bacon’s royalist ideology as well as his ideas on the reform of the state. Peltonen 1992 is an important essay that contextualizes Bacon’s political notion of the greatness of states, placing that notion in its own (and ancient) time rather than in modernity. For a discussion of Bacon’s overall political philosophy, Wormald 1993 provides a comprehensive overview, with White 1968 examining that philosophy through the prism of Bacon’s utopian and more down-to-earth conceptions of politics. Marwil 1976 also connects the works of Bacon, in this case hisHenry VII, to his political career. The relationship between science and the state is explored by Leary 1994, which connects Bacon’s political conservatism with his collectivist notion of science; finally,Paterson 1989 discusses the harnessing of scientific power in Bacon’s conception of the state.
Epstein, Joel J. Francis Bacon: A Political Biography. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1977.
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A basic and straightforward if sometimes problematic introduction to Bacon’s political career, from his rise as a royalist member of parliament through his office as Lord Chancellor, and finally his dramatic impeachment.
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Leary, John E., Jr. Francis Bacon and the Politics of Science. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1994.
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Examines Bacon’s career as a statesman, as well as the development of the “antidemocratic,” politically conservative, and royalist foundation of his scientific policy, which was to be collaborative and collective yet under the firm guidance of a “directing authority” (p. 139).
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Martin, Julian. Francis Bacon, the State, and the Reform of Natural Philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
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A comprehensive though brief examination that approaches Bacon through the prism of politically centralizing and monarchical ambitions that—according to Martin—motivated and underlined his life and all of his disparate works. Reform of the state was consistent with reform of natural philosophy, just as the political career was of a piece with the more high-minded literary and scientific productions.
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Marwil, Jonathan. The Trials of Counsel: Francis Bacon in 1621. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1976.
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Focusing on the composition of The History of Henry VII (1622), which was motivated in part, the author claims, by Bacon’s desire to return to power after his fall in 1621, this work provides biographical analysis of the man up through his disgrace and claims that Bacon drew parallels between himself and Henry VII to regain favor with James.
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Paterson, Timothy H. “The Secular Control of Scientific Power in the Political Philosophy of Francis Bacon.” Polity 21.3 (1989): 457–480.
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An exploration of Bacon’s ideas regarding the scientist’s participation in future political rule; rather than rely on a quality of “goodness” in ensuring beneficial science, Paterson argues that Bacon found “an amoral substitute for morality” in the selfish though more realistic “desire [on the part of the scientist] for fame” (p. 458).
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Peltonen, Markku. “Francis Bacon and the True Greatness of States.” Historical Journal 35.2 (1992): 279–305.
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X00025802Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Upends the traditional assumption of unity and modernity in Bacon’s writings, especially as it connects his scientific agenda with his work on the greatness of states. According to Peltonen, the work should be seen in its own political context, particularly with regard to the influence of classical republicanism, the union of England and Scotland, and England’s involvement with continental wars. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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White, Howard B. Peace among the Willows: The Political Philosophy of Francis Bacon. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1968.
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A comprehensive account of Bacon’s writings on politics, morality, and science, with attention focused on the utopian ideas of the New Atlantis as well as Bacon’s doctrine of progress. Arguing that Bacon wrote on two levels, one pertaining to utopia and the other to the realities of politics, White makes the case for consistency in the political philosophy.
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Wormald, Brian H. G. Francis Bacon: History, Politics, and Science, 1561–1626. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
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A deep and masterful study of Bacon and his corpus, including his works of science and political science, his histories and essays, and his themes of knowing one’s self and obtaining a related knowledge of nature and the universe.
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BACON AND HISTORY
Historia was fundamental for Bacon, particularly as it constituted a kind of experientia central to his inductive method. Dividing history into the realms of the natural and the civil and dividing the civil into ecclesiastical, literary (or intellectual), and political branches, Bacon was particularly concerned with the latter and advocated a realistic and analytical treatment in the writing of it. Bacon’s most famous historical work was the History and Reign of King Henry VII, which nevertheless reflected a Renaissance and classical rather than modern understanding of history and one that served a didactic and utilitarian cause. Guibbory 1975 describes the cyclical nature of Bacon’s historical vision, with Morrison 1977 assessing the varieties of Bacon’s classifications. For analysis of Henry VII, Tinkler 1987 offers the rhetorical perspective while Weinberger 1990 reexamines its proto-modern politics, and Fussner 2010 provides an analysis within the larger context of early modern historical writing.
Fussner, F. Smith. The Historical Revolution: English Historical Writing and Thought, 1580–1640. London: Routledge, 2010.
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An elucidation of English historiography in the 16th and 17th centuries, with a separate assessment of Bacon, including his method and use of sources in Henry VII. Originally published in 1962.
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Guibbory, Achsah. “Francis Bacon’s View of History: The Cycles of Error and the Progress of Truth.” Journal of English and Germanic Philology 74.3 (1975): 336–350.
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An astute analysis of Bacon’s cyclical vision of history and how those cycles contributed in turn to the growth of knowledge. Bacon’s view of the Fall is discussed, as it represented false knowledge (or idols of the mind), leading to his apocalyptic sense of the current age as reaching a peak of learning. Available online by subscription.
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Morrison, James C. “Philosophy and History in Bacon.” Journal of the History of Ideas 38.4 (1977): 585–606.
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An analysis of the nature and function of history in Bacon’s writings, focusing on history and its relation to nature, man, philosophy, and religion, all of which correspond to Bacon’s own distinctions regarding the natural, civil, literary, and ecclesiastical.
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Tinkler, John F. “The Rhetorical Method of Francis Bacon’s History of the Reign of Henry VII.”History and Theory 26.1 (1987): 31–52.
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Readdresses previous scholars’ tendency to minimize the “humanistic” quality of Bacon’s history by examining its rhetorical techniques as well as “the limitations in Bacon’s method . . . when viewed from the perspective of modern historiography” (p. 33). Available online by subscription.
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Weinberger, Jerry. “The Politics of Bacon’s History of Henry the Seventh.” Review of Politics52.4 (1990): 553–581.
DOI: 10.1017/S0034670500048956Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Strongly refutes existing interpretations that Henry VII was a quasi-republican tract that pointed to ideals of civic virtue or that it was attached to any specific political program at all. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Bacon and the Law
As Kocher 1957 reflects, “The world sometimes forgets that Francis Bacon was a great jurist as well as a great philosopher of natural science” (p. 3). Coquillette 1992 is perhaps the best study of Bacon and his contribution to jurisprudence, written by a lawyer as well as historian. Other studies attempt to make connections, particularly in the matter of influence, between Bacon’s legal ideas and his science, with Wheeler 1983 arguing that Bacon’s scientific empiricism emerged from his legal background, and Kocher 1957 comparing Bacon’s calls for legal reform to his calls for reform in natural philosophy. Simonds 1986 also explores the influence of Bacon’s legal training on his philosophical ideas, particularly in terms of his method and allusive style. By contrast, Hogan and Schwartz 1983 limits itself to the law alone, with Hall 1989 explicating and contextualizing the maxims and addressing Bacon and the question of extrajudicial torture. Stone de Montpensier 1968also examines Bacon’s legal career and the ideas that informed and resulted from it, while Shapiro 1990 provides a good account of the uses and misuses of Bacon and calls for legal reform in the middle of the 17th century.
Coquillette, Daniel R. Francis Bacon. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 1992.
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An outstanding study of Bacon’s contribution to what the author rightly calls “the first sustained, analytical, secular, and inductive approach to jurisprudence” (p. viii). In addition to analyzing Bacon’s legal career and juristic writings, the author also makes the case for Bacon’s influence and importance in shaping English law.
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Hall, Clifford. “Some Perspectives on the Use of Torture in Bacon’s Time and the Question of his ‘Virtue.’” Anglo-American Law Review 19 (1989): 289–321.
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A discussion of Bacon’s thoughts on the use of extrajudicial torture, particularly as it was ostensibly prohibited in the common law. The maligning of Bacon and his “virtue” in this regard is also reassessed.
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Hogan, John C., and Mortimer D. Schwartz. “On Bacon’s ‘Rules and Maxims of the Common Law.’” Law Library Journal 76 (1983): 48–77.
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One of the better treatments of the history of and meaning behind Bacon’s 1596 maxims, and including a bibliography on legal maxim treatises written from the year 1546. Bacon’s plan to “codify” the English law, and the historical context that gave him impetus to do so, are also discussed.
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Kocher, Paul. “Francis Bacon on the Science of Jurisprudence.” Journal of the History of Ideas 18.1 (1957): 3–26.
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A stimulating discussion of Bacon’s plan for legal reform, parallel to his calls for reform of science. Among the topics explored are Bacon’s concept of legal maxims (or “laws of laws,” p. 6), his application to the law of natural science and natural reason, the inductive method in the law, and the role of the law in his larger philosophy. Available online by subscription.
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Shapiro, Barbara. “Sir Francis Bacon and the Mid-Seventeenth-Century Movement for Law Reform.” American Journal of Legal History 24.4 (1990): 331–362.
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A comprehensive analysis of Bacon’s views on law reform and how those views were “expressed during the revolutionary era” (p. 332), including by those who sided with the cause of parliament. The larger context of law reform in the 17th century is also discussed at length.
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Simonds, Roger T. “Bacon’s Legal Learning: Its Influence on His Philosophical Ideas.” InActa Conventus Neo-Latini Sanctandreani: Proceedings of the Fifth International Congress of Neo-Latin Studies. Edited by Ian D. McFarlane, 493–501. Binghamton, NY: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1986.
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Interesting analysis of the influence of Bacon’s legal training and learning on his philosophical works, from his sometimes novel and heavily allusive approach to philosophy as well as his tendency to favor methodology over metaphysical speculation.
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Stone de Montpensier, Roy L. “Bacon as Lawyer and Jurist.” Archiv fur Rechts und Sozialphilosophie 54 (1968): 449–483.
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Provides a detailed background of Bacon as he practiced and wrote in the law, arguing in part (with some qualification) that Bacon’s views on law and prerogative were not that different from Coke’s, as historians had traditionally asserted.
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Wheeler, Harvey. “The Invention of Modern Empiricism: Juridical Foundations of Francis Bacon’s Philosophy of Science.” Law Library Journal 76.1 (1983): 78–120.
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Argues that Bacon’s scientific empiricism rested on his interpretation of the law, specifically the unwritten English common law; the case method for using judge’s rules as evidence, and the training of lawyers to avoid prejudice (or the idol of knowledge) are some aspects touched on, particularly as they shaped a new Baconian science through a foundation of the law.
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Bacon’s Theology
The traditional picture of Bacon’s religion holds that he was either motivated by secular and materialist concerns, particularly in his natural philosophy, or that at the very least he held religion and natural science to be separate, if complementary, to each other. These claims have been forcefully refuted by McKnight 2006, which argues that religion remained foundational to all of Bacon’s endeavors, and Briggs 1996, which explores the religious overtones of Bacon’s philosophical works. Similarly, Matthews 2008 is a recent study of Bacon through the prism of theology and religion, while Manzo 1999 explores the religious aspects of Bacon’s pursuit of the principle regarding the constancy of matter.
Briggs, John C. “Bacon’s Science and Religion.” In The Cambridge Companion to Francis Bacon. Edited by Markku Peltonen, 172–199. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 1996.
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Explicates the religious dimension of Bacon’s philosophical writings, despite the separation of science and religion that were foundational to his defense of learning. The Novum Organum is singled out for its religious overtones, just as elements of the virtues of humility and charity, or the esoteric or cryptic nature of the new sciences, are borrowed from the religious sphere.
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Manzo, Silvia Alejandra. “Holy Writ, Mythology, and the Foundations of Francis Bacon’s Principle of the Constancy of Matter.” Early Science and Medicine 4.2 (1999): 114–126.
DOI: 10.1163/157338299X00256Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Argues that Bacon, while acknowledging the separation between the Bible and nature, or faith and reason, also invoked certain scriptural claims in his exposition of the principle of the constancy of matter, thus complicating his usual method of exposition. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Matthews, Steven. Theology and Science in the Thought of Francis Bacon. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2008.
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A short but comprehensive exposition of Bacon’s science in relation to faith and reformation-era Christianity—or its place in the contemporary “theological landscape” (p. vii).
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McKnight, Stephen A. The Religious Foundations of Francis Bacon’s Thought. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2006.
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Arguing that Bacon’s program of natural philosophy was rooted in “genuinely and deeply felt religious convictions” (p. 11), the author engages with a number of scholars who have argued otherwise and makes the claim that Bacon in his natural philosophy was also motivated by an urge to return a fallen natural world to its original Edenic purity.
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Literary Productions
Although an examination of the evidence establishes that Bacon was not the secret author behind Shakespeare’s works, his place at the top of English literary history is nevertheless assured. His prose style alone—and his influential advocacy of a plain style—was important in the development of modern scientific and literary writing (even if he hardly followed the plain style principle himself). TheNew Atlantis was the most important English utopia since Thomas More’s and, as ambiguous, despite its apparently clear expositions of a perfect world. Following Montaigne (although not necessarily influenced by him), Bacon’s Essays also represented a high achievement of English literature, their wide range reflected not only in subject matter but in style. While these nonscientific works each carried elements of Bacon’s larger philosophical system, even as stand-alone literary products, they would have made a significant and vital contribution to early modern thought.
THE NEW ATLANTIS AND THE BACONIAN UTOPIA
Along with Thomas More’s Utopia in 1516 and Tommaso Campanella’s City of the Sun in 1602, Bacon’s New Atlantis, written in 1627, was one of the seminal utopias to emerge from early modern Europe, reflecting the period’s preoccupations with such themes as education and (more important) scientific knowledge and the control of nature. Locating itself in the mythical land of Bensalem, the novel ranges across a number of themes, including colonial expansion, technology, morality, social progress, sexual hierarchies, and possibly (as with More) eugenics; the text, however, contains enough interpretive ambiguities and silences as to provoke the interest and speculations of literary critics. Achinstein 1988 is an important interpretation of the text’s fluid meanings and its stance on gender, authority, and other issues, while Bierman 1963 provides an analysis of the utopia’s science and Smith 2008 of its religion. Albanese 1990 studies colonial, humanist, and other aspects of the work, with Boesky 1996 also focusing on the imperialist aspect. Like Boesky, Davis 1981 provides a broader survey of utopias, albeit in a more historical, political, and social context. Finally, Price 2002provides the first collection of essays focused solely on the New Atlantis, reflecting recent critical reflections on the subject.
Achinstein, Sharon. “How to Be a Progressive without Looking Like One: History and Knowledge in Bacon’s New Atlantis.” Clio 17.3 (1988): 249–264.
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Examines issues of gender in Bacon’s works and also argues that Bacon’s “urgings for experimental science were toward the end of enriching the king’s power. Kingly authority was to be the guide and authorization for all progress” (p. 250).
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Albanese, Denise. “The New Atlantis and the Uses of Utopia.” English Literary History 57.3 (1990): 503–528.
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A heavily theoretical essay that focuses on the manner in which Bacon recasts “social and political enterprises . . . by means of fictions,” and specifically the colonialist and natural philosophical utopian fiction of the New Atlantis. Available online by subscription. Reprinted in Albanese’s New Science, New World (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996), pp. 92–120.
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Bierman, Judah. “Science and Society in the New Atlantis and Other Renaissance Utopias.”Publications of the Modern Language Association 73 (1963): 492–500.
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An explication of Bacon’s ideas of science through the prism of the New Atlantis, which contains ideas evident in the First Book of the Advancement of Learning and “projects an image of science in operation and of the relation of scientists to society not to be found in [his] earlier works” (p. 492).
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Boesky, Amy. Founding Fictions: Utopias in Early Modern England. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1996.
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While examining utopian narratives across early modern England, chapter 2 focuses specifically on Bacon’s New Atlantis in a colonialist context as well as Bacon’s status as a scientific imperialist.
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Davis, J. C. Utopia and the Ideal Society: A Study of English Utopian Writing, 1516–1700. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
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Another larger exploration of early modern English utopias, particularly within a political and social context, with chapter five devoted to the New Atlantis. Bacon, Davis argues in part, conveyed optimism but not quite an “unbounded happiness,” as his inherent pessimism—shared with other writers of the genre—prevented him from imagining a perfect utopian commonwealth (p. 121).
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Price, Bronwen, ed. Francis Bacon’s “New Atlantis”: New Interdisciplinary Essays. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2002.
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An illuminating collection of essays that examines the “open-ended and in-between quality of theNew Atlantis” (p. 23), including its relation to readers and reading, and to Baconian science or natural knowledge. Gender and sexuality are also examined through the prism of the text.
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Smith, Suzanne. “The New Atlantis: Francis Bacon’s Theological-Political Utopia?” Harvard Theological Review 101.1 (2008): 97–125.
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A discussion of Bacon’s treatment of religion (including religious pluralism and eclecticism) in theNew Atlantis, with good accounts and critiques of existing scholarly opinion on the subject.
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ESSAYS, APHORISMS, AND ANCIENT WISDOM
Although Bacon’s essays, according to Edward Arbor, were once thought to form “no essential part” of Bacon’s larger oeuvre, recent assessments have argued otherwise, claiming similarities between the essays and such works as the Advancement of Learning and De Augmentis Scientiarum, published in 1623. The essays as well as the aphorisms are also important simply in their own right, as literary artifacts that convey many of the formal and thematic preoccupations of the early modern period. Fish 1972 provides a particularly insightful reading of the essays and their many layers, withZeitlin 1928 seeking to trace the influence of Montaigne. Snider 1994 also looks at Bacon’s form and style in a larger literary study, and with emphasis on the aphorisms. Finally, Lemmi 1933 is a classic study that examines Bacon’s use and reading of symbolism in his treatise on ancient wisdom.
Fish, Stanley E. “Georgics of the Mind: The Experience of Bacon’s Essays.” In Self-Consuming Artifacts: The Experience of Seventeenth-Century Literature. Edited by Stanley E. Fish, 78–155. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972.
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An extremely interesting reading of the Essays, with discussion of their development and the differences between earlier and later versions. Fish analyzes the subterfuge and deception at work in the essays, arguing that “what men say and think about things may be far from the truth about them” (p. 93).
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Lemmi, Charles W. The Classic Deities in Bacon: A Study in Mythological Symbolism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1933.
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A significant and detailed study of De Sapientia Veterum and other writings, arguing that Bacon’s interpretation of mythological symbolism and allegorical poetry belonged to late medieval tradition rather than anything that could be considered modern.
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Snider, Alvin. Origin and Authority in Seventeenth-Century England: Bacon, Milton, Butler. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.
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A tripartite analysis of three thinkers at the juncture of historical and epistemological crisis, with Bacon examined in terms of his use of aphoristic literary form and method as a means to counteract the decay of language.
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Zeitlin, J. “The Development of Bacon’s Essays with Special Reference to the Question of Montaigne’s Influence upon Them.” Journal of English and Germanic Philology 27.4 (1928): 496–519.
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Forcefully argues that “Bacon’s acquaintance with Montaigne and his interest in him was extremely slight,” and that his essays “can be much better understood and explained if Montaigne is completely left out of the reckoning” (p. 500). Bacon’s views of human nature and rules of conduct are also discussed. Available online by subscription.
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RHETORIC AND PROSE STYLE
Despite William Harvey’s famous dictum that Bacon “wrote philosophy like a Lord Chancellor,” a tremendous persuasive power and imaginative eloquence as well as attachment to rhetoric was reflected in the writings. Bacon’s views on rhetoric as well as his prose style varied, however, in accordance with the genre in which he was writing, whether it be political treatises, scientific tracts, official letters, or even writings on how rhetoric itself worked. The audience itself was also important and determined his choice to create works that were accessible or intentionally esoteric. Yet as Vickers points out, Bacon also questioned the relationship between language and reality, as well as the value of words themselves. Wallace 1943 is a significant study that is organized around Bacon and the five processes of rhetorical composition, while Briggs 1989 is an important later analysis of rhetoric in relation to nature. Cogan 1981 also attempts to uncover rhetorical principles at work in the writings on natural philosophy, with Jardine 1974 locating Bacon’s critiques within the context of Renaissance dialectic. In general, Zappen 1989 provides a larger historiographical overview of historians’ approach to the problem of Bacon and rhetoric, while Mack 2006 provides a concise account of rhetoric and the essays in the context of other writings of the period. Finally, in the manner of Bacon’s prose style, Vickers 1968 is a classic study providing close readings of Bacon’s imagery and argumentation style, while Stephens 1975 is an accessible introduction to the style of Bacon’s scientific writing, and Schuler 1992 explores Bacon from the perspective of “scientific” poetry.
Briggs, John C. Francis Bacon and the Rhetoric of Nature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989.
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A study of Bacon’s reform of scientific method in relation to his less well-known conceptions of rhetoric, nature, and religion, particularly in the context of the traditions and influences of ancient philosophies and Renaissance rhetorical scholarship.
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Cogan, Marc. “Rhetoric and Action in Francis Bacon.” Philosophy and Rhetoric 14.4 (1981): 212–233.
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Although Bacon in his works “omit[ted] any detailed explanation of the nature and structure” of the art of rhetoric, Cogan provides an exposition of underlying Baconian rhetorical principles, or of Bacon’s “radically rhetorical interpretation of action, and of a fundamentally restructured art of rhetoric to serve it” (p. 212).
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Jardine, Lisa. Francis Bacon: Discovery and the Art of Discourse. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1974.
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An important exploration of Bacon’s view on method—the unifying principle behind all his work, according to the author—and the logic of scientific discovery as well as his criticism of traditional logic and rhetoric, particularly within the context of Renaissance dialectic.
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Mack, Peter. “Humanism, Rhetoric, Education.” In A Concise Companion to English Renaissance Literature. Edited by Donna B. Hamilton, 94–113. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006.
DOI: 10.1111/b.9781405113588.2006.00007.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Discusses Bacon’s essays (as well as other English Renaissance writings) in the context of humanist rhetorical education and the literary and argumentative strategies it promoted.
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Schuler, Robert M. Francis Bacon and Scientific Poetry. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1992.
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An essay on Bacon’s use and views of scientific poetry and the manner in which they separate reason from the “imagination,” particularly in De Rerum Natura and Georgics.
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Stephens, James. Francis Bacon and the Style of Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975.
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A short but insightful study of Bacon’s evolving philosophical style as it is united with “his own ‘plan’ for science” (p. ix). The major works are covered, as is Bacon’s indebtedness to Aristotle, his use of the aphorism and fable-making and other “strategies” of style.
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Vickers, Brian. Francis Bacon and Renaissance Prose. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1968.
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A strongly-argued work by one of the most important Bacon scholars, claiming Bacon as having “the greatest range and power in intellect” of his age (p. 261), reflected in a style that undergoes heavy analysis for its imagery, argumentation, organization, and other aspects.
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Wallace, Karl R. Francis Bacon on Communication and Rhetoric, or: The Art of Applying Reason to Imagination for the Better Moving of the Will. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1943.
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Working from The Advancement of Learning, De Augmentis Scientiarum, and other works, Wallace reconstructs Bacon’s views on rhetoric, arguing that they closely resemble Aristotle’s own notions on the subject. Also includes a comparison of Bacon’s thought to the rhetoricians’ of antiquity and the early modern period.
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Zappen, James P. “Francis Bacon and the Historiography of Scientific Rhetoric.” Rhetoric Review 8.1 (1989): 74–88.
DOI: 10.1080/07350198909388879Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An account of different historians’ ideologically shaped interpretations of Bacon’s science and scientific rhetoric, including his style’s impact on positivistic science and the plain style; “institutionalized science” and “its more highly figured style”; and finally, “democratic science” and its own use of the plain style (p. 74). Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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Reputation and Influence
Few historical figures have enjoyed such dramatic turns in posthumous fortune as Bacon, not only in terms of his biography but in the influence that his works exerted in the area of scientific philosophy, method, and ethics as well as law and political thought. Certainly his influence was immediate, even if his works were often read through a distorting lens; Descartes favorably acknowledged him, as did Newton, with Bacon’s deification reaching its height in the Royal Society and throughout the French Enlightenment. Early Victorian thinkers also looked favorably on Bacon, particularly his inductive method, until his reputation took a tumble with the criticisms of the Scottish physicist David Brewster (who separated Newton from the methodological doctrines of Bacon), and Macaulay, represented byMacaulay 1967, who launched an influential and at times personal attack on Bacon. Yeo 1985recounts this 19th-century legacy. The 20th century, however, witnessed a new appreciation of Bacon, including his science, on the part of an interdisciplinary range of scholars. The history of Bacon’s reputation is best described in Matthews 1996, while Rees 2002 provides a more concise review of the afterlife of Bacon’s philosophy; Desrouches 2006 assesses the legacy and influence of Baconian science today, while Bacon in the 17th and 18th centuries is represented by Jacquet 2000;Trevor-Roper 1962 is strongest on Bacon in the later 17th century, with Webster 2002 offering a magisterial study of Bacon’s influence on later-17th-century puritan science. Finally, Vickers 1997provides an assessment of Bacon’s early manuscripts and claims of their authenticity by editors such as the 19th-century Baconian editor James Spedding, while Mazzeo 1965 provides a fine introduction to Bacon and the manner in which he influenced later generations that viewed him as embodying a golden age.
Desrouches, Dennis. Francis Bacon and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge. London: Continuum, 2006.
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Not only a reexamination of Bacon’s experimental science but also an analysis of its influence and continued importance today.
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Jacquet, Chantal. L’Héritage Baconien au XVIIe et XVIIIe Siècles. Paris: Kime, 2000.
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A short but edifying collection accounting for Bacon’s legacy in the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly focusing on the influence of the Novum Organum on Descartes and Spinoza as well as the later Encyclopedists.
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Macaulay, Thomas B. “Francis Bacon.” In Critical and Historical Essays. Vol. 2. By Thomas B. Macaulay, 310–425. London: Dent, 1967.
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An infamous and sometimes-murderous indictment, responsible in great part for shifting consensus on Bacon away from the positive position he had held for two centuries. Important for anyone interested in assessing the history of Bacon’s legacy, and Macaulay’s influence on it through the middle of the following century. Originally published in the Edinburgh Review (July 1837). Full text available online as a Penn State Electronic Classics Series Publication.
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Matthews, Nieves. Francis Bacon: The History of a Character Assassination. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996.
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Addressing the attacks on Bacon that began in the 19th century with Macaulay, Mathews defends Bacon’s reputation against numerous charges and critics including those pertaining to his role in Essex’s downfall and on corruption charges in his capacity as Lord Chancellor.
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Mazzeo, Joseph Anthony. Renaissance and Revolution: The Remaking of European Thought. New York: Pantheon, 1965.
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Mazzeo’s chapter on Bacon is still cited for its importance in its elucidation of Bacon’s attempt to establish science as a utilitarian and secularist endeavor and the manner in which this effort influenced the work of Galileo and Descartes. The choice of Bacon (as well as Machiavelli, Castiglione, and other figures) as representative of the spirit of the Renaissance reinforces the primary thesis of the book in asserting the revolutionary distinction of the age.
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Rees, Graham. “Reflections on the Reputation of Francis Bacon’s Philosophy.” Huntington Library Quarterly 65.3–4 (2002): 379–394.
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An accessible and stimulating essay, written by the editor of the Oxford edition of Bacon’s writings, tracking Bacon’s rise in the late 17th and 18th centuries to his fall in the 19th and 20th centuries, from being a “blazing light in the philosophical firmament” to one relegated to “an intellectual salon des refuse” (p. 379). Attention to the reception of Bacon’s inductive method is given special attention. Available online by subscription.
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Trevor-Roper, Hugh. “Francis Bacon after Four Centuries.” Encounter 18.2 (1962): 73–77.
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An interpretation of Bacon that has him representing a “liberal, human, reforming royalism . . . far more civilized than the . . . common lawyers” (pp. 74–75). Particularly interesting is the discussion of the “Baconians” of the Civil War, who appropriated him towards their own parliamentary or royalist ends.
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Vickers, Brian. “The Authenticity of Bacon’s Earliest Writings.” Studies in Philology 94.2 (1997): 248–296.
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Examines Bacon’s extant manuscripts through 1605, including dramatic entertainments and letters of advice, particularly as they reflect on Bacon’s thought; Vickers also engages with James Spedding’s claims of Bacon authorship in the latter’s massive 19th-century edition of the collected works.
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Webster, Charles. The Great Instauration: Science, Medicine and Reform, 1626–1660. 2d ed. Oxford: Lang, 2002.
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A seminal work centered on mid-17th century Puritan reformers of science and natural knowledge, especially in their relation to the religious and moral values of the time. Although the work focuses on Samuel Hartlib and his circle, Bacon’s enormous influence on the group is given extensive treatment.
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Yeo, Richard. “An Idol of the Marketplace: Baconianism in Nineteenth-Century Britain.”History of Science 23 (1985): 251–298.
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An excellent valuation of British scientists’ views of Bacon in the 19th century, including the Baconian debates and the shift away from the inductive method.
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