Francis Bacon and his main ideas. Francis Bacon Francis Bacon

Name: Francis Bacon

Age: 65 years old

Activity: philosopher, historian, politician

Family status: was married

Francis Bacon: biography

The pioneer of modern philosophy, the English scientist Francis Bacon, is known by contemporaries primarily as the developer of scientific methods for studying nature - induction and experiment, the author of the books “New Atlantis”, “New Orgagon” and “Experiments, or Moral and Political Instructions”.

Childhood and youth

The founder of empiricism was born on January 22, 1561, in Yorkhouse mansion, on the Strand, central London. The scientist's father, Nicholas, was a politician, and his mother Anna (nee Cook) was the daughter of Anthony Cook, a humanist who raised King Edward VI of England and Ireland.

From a young age, his mother instilled in her son a love of knowledge, and she, a girl who knew ancient Greek and Latin, did it with ease. In addition, the boy himself showed an interest in knowledge from a tender age. For two years, Francis studied at Trinity College, Cambridge University, then spent three years in France, in the retinue of the English ambassador Sir Amyas Paulet.

After the death of the head of the family in 1579, Bacon was left without a livelihood and entered the school of barristers to study law. Francis became a lawyer in 1582, a Member of Parliament in 1584, and played a prominent role in debates in the House of Commons until 1614. From time to time, Bacon composed messages to the queen, in which he sought to approach pressing political issues impartially.

Biographers now agree that if the Queen had followed his advice, a couple of conflicts between the Crown and Parliament could have been avoided. In 1591, he became an adviser to the queen's favorite, the Earl of Essex. Bacon immediately made it clear to his patron that he was devoted to the country, and when in 1601 Essex tried to organize a coup, Bacon, being a lawyer, participated in his condemnation as a state traitor.

Because Francis's superiors saw him as a rival, and because he often expressed his dissatisfaction with Elizabeth I's policies in epistolary form, Bacon soon fell out of favor with the queen and could not count on promotion. Under Elizabeth I, the lawyer never achieved high positions, but after James I Stuart ascended the throne in 1603, Francis's career took off.

Bacon was knighted in 1603, and was created Baron of Verulam in 1618 and Viscount of St. Albans in 1621. In the same 1621, the philosopher was accused of taking bribes. He admitted that people whose cases were being tried in court had repeatedly given him gifts. True, the lawyer denied that this influenced his decision. As a result, Francis was stripped of all his posts and banned from appearing at court.

Philosophy and teaching

Bacon's main literary creation is considered to be the work "Essayes", on which he worked continuously for 28 years. Ten essays were published in 1597, and by 1625 the book “Experiments” had already collected 58 texts, some of which were published in the third, revised edition entitled “Experiments, or Moral and Political Instructions.”

In these writings, Bacon reflected on ambition, on friends, on love, on the pursuit of science, on the vicissitudes of things and other aspects of human life. The works were replete with learned examples and brilliant metaphors. People striving for career heights will find advice in the texts based solely on cold calculation. For example, the following statements can be found in works:

“All who rise high pass through the zigzags of a spiral staircase” and “Wife and children are hostages of fate, for the family is an obstacle to the accomplishment of great deeds, both good and evil.”

Despite Bacon's studies in politics and jurisprudence, the main concern of his life was philosophy and science. He rejected Aristotelian deduction, which at that time occupied a dominant position, as an unsatisfactory way of philosophizing and proposed a new tool for thinking.

A sketch of the “great plan for the restoration of the sciences” was made by Bacon in 1620, in the preface to the work “New Organon, or True Directions for Interpretation.” It is known that this work included six parts (a review of the current state of the sciences, a description of a new method of obtaining true knowledge, a body of empirical data, a discussion of issues subject to further research, preliminary solutions, and philosophy itself).

Bacon managed to make only sketches of the first two parts. The first was entitled “On the Use and Success of Knowledge,” the Latin version of which, “On the Dignity and Increase of Sciences,” was published with corrections.

Since the basis of the critical part of Francis's philosophy is the doctrine of the so-called "idols" that distort the knowledge of people, in the second part of the project he described the principles of the inductive method, with the help of which he proposed to overthrow all the idols of reason. According to Bacon, there are four types of idols that besiege the minds of all mankind:

The first type is idols of the family (mistakes that a person makes by virtue of his very nature).
The second type is cave idols (mistakes due to prejudice).
The third type is the idols of the square (errors caused by inaccuracies in the use of language).
The fourth type is the idols of the theater (mistakes made due to adherence to authorities, systems and doctrines).

Describing the prejudices that hinder the development of science, the scientist proposed a three-part division of knowledge, produced according to mental functions. He attributed history to memory, poetry to imagination, and philosophy (which included the sciences) to reason. The basis of scientific knowledge, according to Bacon, is induction and experiment. Induction can be complete or incomplete.

Complete induction means the regular repetition of a property of an object in the class under consideration. Generalizations are based on the assumption that this will be the case in all similar cases. Incomplete induction includes generalizations made on the basis of studying not all cases, but only some (conclusion by analogy), because, as a rule, the number of all cases is immense, and it is impossible to theoretically prove their infinite number. This conclusion is always probabilistic.

Trying to create a “true induction,” Bacon looked not only for facts that confirmed a certain conclusion, but also for facts that refuted it. He thus armed natural science with two means of research - enumeration and exclusion. Moreover, exceptions were of main importance. Using this method, for example, he established that the “form” of heat is the movement of the smallest particles of the body.

In his theory of knowledge, Bacon adheres to the idea that true knowledge follows from sensory experience (this philosophical position is called empirical). He also gave an overview of the limits and nature of human knowledge in each of these categories and pointed out important areas of research that had not been addressed before. The core of Baconian methodology is a gradual inductive generalization of facts observed in experience.

However, the philosopher was far from a simplified understanding of this generalization and emphasized the need to rely on reason in the analysis of facts. In 1620, Bacon wrote the utopia “New Atlantis” (published after the author’s death, in 1627), which, in terms of the scope of the plan, should not have been inferior to the work “Utopia” of the great, friend and mentor, whom he later beheaded due to intrigues second wife.

For this “new lamp in the darkness of the philosophy of the past,” King James granted Francis a pension of 1,200 pounds. In his unfinished work “New Atlantis,” the philosopher talked about the mysterious country of Bensalem, which was led by the “House of Solomon,” or “Society for the Knowledge of the True Nature of All Things,” uniting the main sages of the country.

Francis's creation differed from communist and socialist works in its pronounced technocratic character. Francis's discovery of a new method of cognition and the conviction that research should begin with observations, and not with theories, place him on a par with the most important representatives of scientific thought of modern times.

It is also worth noting that Bacon’s teaching on law and, in general, the ideas of experimental science and the experimental-empirical method of research made an invaluable contribution to the treasury of human thought. However, during his lifetime the scientist did not obtain significant results either in empirical research or in the field of theory, and experimental science rejected his method of inductive knowledge through exceptions.

Personal life

Bacon was married once. It is known that the philosopher’s wife was three times younger than himself. The chosen one of the great scientist was Alice Burnham, the daughter of the widow of London elder Benedict Burnham.

The wedding of 45-year-old Francis and 14-year-old Alice took place on May 10, 1606. The couple had no children.

Death

Bacon died on April 9, 1626, at the age of 66, by an absurd accident. Francis spent his whole life interested in studying all kinds of natural phenomena, and one winter, while riding in a carriage with the royal physician, the scientist came up with the idea of conducting an experiment in which he intended to test the extent to which cold slows down the process of decay.

The philosopher bought a chicken carcass at the market and buried it in the snow with his own hands, from which he caught a cold, fell ill and died on the fifth day of his scientific experiment. The lawyer's grave is located in the grounds of St. Michael's Church in St. Albans (UK). It is known that after the death of the author of the book “New Atlantis”, a monument was erected at the burial site.

Discoveries

Francis Bacon developed new scientific methods - induction and experiment:

Induction is a widely used scientific term for a method of reasoning from the particular to the general.
An experiment is a method of studying a certain phenomenon under conditions controlled by an observer. It differs from observation by active interaction with the object being studied.

Bibliography

1957 - “Experiments, or Moral and Political Instructions” (1st edition)
1605 – “On the benefits and success of knowledge”
1609 – “On the Wisdom of the Ancients”
1612 - “Experiments, or Moral and Political Instructions” (2nd edition)
1620 - “The Great Restoration of the Sciences, or New Organon”
1620 - "New Atlantis"
1625 - “Experiments, or Moral and Political Instructions” (3rd edition)
1623 - “On the dignity and increase of sciences”

Quotes

“The worst loneliness is not having true friends”
“Excessive frankness is as indecent as complete nudity.”
“I have thought a lot about death and find that it is the lesser of evils”
“People who have a lot of shortcomings first of all notice them in others.”

BACON, FRANCIS(Bacon, Francis) (1561–1626), Baron of Verulam, Viscount of St. Albans, English statesman, essayist and philosopher. Born in London on January 22, 1561, he was the youngest son in the family of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge University for two years, then spent three years in France in the retinue of the English ambassador.

After the death of his father in 1579, he was left practically without a livelihood and entered the Gray's Inn school of barristers to study law. In 1582 he became a barrister, and in 1584 a member of parliament and until 1614 he played a prominent role in debates at sessions of the House of Commons. From time to time he composed messages to Queen Elizabeth, in which he sought to take an impartial approach to pressing political issues; Perhaps, if the queen had followed his advice, some conflicts between the crown and parliament could have been avoided. However, his ability as a statesman did not help his career, partly because Lord Burghley saw in Bacon a rival to his son, and partly because he lost Elizabeth's favor by courageously opposing, on principles of principle, the passage of the Bill for Grants of covering expenses incurred in the war with Spain (1593).

Around 1591 he became an adviser to the queen's favorite, the Earl of Essex, who offered him a generous reward. However, Bacon made it clear to his patron that he was devoted first of all to his country, and when in 1601 Essex tried to organize a coup, Bacon, as a king's lawyer, took part in his condemnation as a state traitor. Under Elizabeth, Bacon never rose to any high positions, but after James I Stuart ascended the throne in 1603, he quickly advanced in the ranks. In 1607 he took the position of Solicitor General, in 1613 - Attorney General, in 1617 - Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and in 1618 received the post of Lord Chancellor, the highest in the structure of the judiciary. Bacon was knighted in 1603 and created Baron of Verulam in 1618 and Viscount of St. Albans in 1621. In the same year he was accused of accepting bribes. Bacon admitted receiving gifts from people whose cases were being tried in court, but denied that this had any influence on his decision. Bacon was stripped of all his posts and banned from appearing at court. He spent the remaining years before his death in solitude.

Bacon's main literary creation is considered to be Experiments (Essays), on which he worked continuously for 28 years; ten essays were published in 1597, and by 1625 the book had already collected 58 essays, some of which were published in the third edition in revised form ( Experiments, or Moral and Political Instructions, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Morall). Style Experiences laconic and didactic, replete with learned examples and brilliant metaphors. Bacon called his experiments “fragmentary reflections” about ambition, relatives and friends, about love, wealth, about the pursuit of science, about honors and glory, about the vicissitudes of things and other aspects of human life. In them you can find cold calculation, which is not mixed with emotions or impractical idealism, advice for those who are making a career. There are, for example, such aphorisms: “Everyone who rises high passes through the zigzags of a spiral staircase” and “Wife and children are hostages of fate, for the family is an obstacle to the accomplishment of great deeds, both good and evil.” Bacon's Treatise About the wisdom of the ancients (De Sapientia Veterum, 1609) is an allegorical interpretation of the hidden truths contained in ancient myths. His History of the reign of Henry VII (History of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, 1622) is distinguished by lively characterizations and clear political analysis.

Despite Bacon's studies in politics and jurisprudence, the main concern of his life was philosophy and science, and he majestically declared: “All knowledge is the province of my care.” He rejected Aristotelian deduction, which at that time occupied a dominant position, as an unsatisfactory way of philosophizing. In his opinion, a new tool of thinking, a “new organon”, should be proposed, with the help of which it would be possible to restore human knowledge on a more reliable basis. A general outline of the “great plan for the restoration of the sciences” was made by Bacon in 1620 in the preface to the work New Organon, or True Indications for the Interpretation of Nature (Novum Organum). This work consisted of six parts: a general overview of the current state of the sciences, a description of a new method of obtaining true knowledge, a body of empirical data, a discussion of issues subject to further research, preliminary solutions, and, finally, philosophy itself. Bacon managed to make only sketches of the first two parts. The first one was named About the benefits and success of knowledge (Of the Proficiency and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Humane, 1605), the Latin version of which, On the dignity and enhancement of sciences (De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum, 1623), published with corrections and many additions. According to Bacon, there are four kinds of “idols” that besiege the minds of people. The first type is idols of the family (mistakes that a person makes by virtue of his very nature). The second type is cave idols (mistakes due to prejudice). The third type is the idols of the square (errors caused by inaccuracies in the use of language). The fourth type is theater idols (mistakes made as a result of the adoption of various philosophical systems). Describing the current prejudices that hinder the development of science, Bacon proposed a tripartite division of knowledge, made according to mental functions, and attributed history to memory, poetry to imagination, and philosophy (in which he included the sciences) to reason. He also gave an overview of the limits and nature of human knowledge in each of these categories and pointed out important areas of research that had hitherto been neglected. In the second part of the book, Bacon described the principles of the inductive method, with the help of which he proposed to overthrow all the idols of reason.

In an unfinished story New Atlantis (The New Atlantis, written in 1614, publ. in 1627) Bacon describes a utopian community of scientists engaged in the collection and analysis of data of all kinds according to the scheme of the third part of the great plan of restoration. New Atlantis is an excellent social and cultural system that exists on the island of Bensalem, lost somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The religion of the Atlanteans is Christianity, miraculously revealed to the inhabitants of the island; the unit of society is the highly respected family; The type of government is essentially a monarchy. The main institution of the state is Solomon's House, the College of the Six Days of Creation, a research center from which emanate scientific discoveries and inventions that ensure the happiness and prosperity of the citizens. It is sometimes believed that it was Solomon's house that served as the prototype of the Royal Society of London, established during the reign of Charles II in 1662.

Bacon's struggle against authorities and the method of "logical distinctions", the promotion of a new method of knowledge and the conviction that research should begin with observations, and not with theories, put him on a par with the most important representatives of scientific thought of the Modern Age. However, he did not obtain any significant results - neither in empirical research nor in the field of theory, and his method of inductive knowledge through exceptions, which, as he believed, would produce new knowledge “like a machine”, did not receive recognition in experimental science .

In March 1626, deciding to test the extent to which cold slowed down the process of decay, he experimented with a chicken, stuffing it with snow, but caught a cold in the process. Bacon died at Highgate near London on April 9, 1626.

F. Bacon (1561 - 1626) is considered the founder of New European philosophy, since it was he who came up with a new view of philosophy, which was subsequently widely developed: “... the fruits brought in... and practical inventions are, as it were, guarantors and witnesses of the truth of philosophies.” His saying: “Knowledge is power” expresses his attitude towards science as the main means of solving human problems.

By origin, Bacon belonged to the circles of the court bureaucracy and received a university education. His most important works: “New Organon” (1620) and “On the Dignity and Growth of Science” (1623). In them, the author proceeds from the objective needs of society and expresses the interests of the progressive forces of that time, focusing on empirical research and knowledge of nature. The main goal of knowledge, as F. Bacon believed, is to strengthen the power of man over nature. To do this, we must abandon scholastic speculative methods of cognition and turn to nature itself and the knowledge of its laws. Therefore, its subject epistemology matter itself, its structure and transformations appeared.

For an objective study of nature, he turns to experience, for the best of all evidence is experience. Moreover, experience in Bacon’s view is not likening the old empiricists, who “... like an ant only collect and use what they have collected,” experience must be combined with reason. This will also help to avoid the limitations of rationalists, “...like a spider from themselves...” creating fabric. His experience, in his own remark, is rather reminiscent of the actions of a bee, which chooses the middle method, “it extracts material from the flowers of the garden and field, but disposes and changes it with its own skill.” He divides experiments into “luminous”, which “... do not bring benefit in themselves, but contribute to the discovery of reasons and axioms”, and “fruitful”, which directly bring benefit.

According to his positions, F. Bacon entered the history of philosophy as a representative empiricism . In his opinion, the conclusions of knowledge - theory should be built on a new, inductive method, i.e. movement from the particular to the general, from experiment to mental processing of the obtained material. Before Bacon, philosophers who wrote about induction paid attention mainly to those cases or facts that confirm the propositions being proved or generalized. Bacon emphasized the importance of those cases that refute the generalization and contradict it. These are the so-called negative authorities. Already one - the only such case can completely or at least partially refute a hasty generalization. According to Bacon, neglect of negative authorities is the main cause of errors, superstitions and prejudices.

The new method, first of all, requires freeing the mind from preconceived ideas - ghosts, idols. He designated these idols as “idols of the clan”, “idols of the cave”, “idols of the market”, “idols of the theater”. The first two are congenital, and the second are acquired during the individual development of a person.

“Idols of the race” mean that a person judges nature by analogy with himself, therefore teleological errors in ideas about nature occur.

“Idols of the cave” arise as a result of subjective sympathies and antipathies to certain established ideas.

“Idols of the market”, or otherwise, “squares” arise as a result of communication between people through words that make it difficult to understand things, because their meaning was often established by chance, not on the basis of the essence of the subject.

“Idols of the theater” are generated by the uncritical assimilation of the opinions of authorities.

Bacon also creates one of the first classifications of sciences, based on the abilities of the human soul: history is built on the basis of memory, poetry is built on the imagination, reason gives birth to philosophy, mathematics and natural science.

In his opinion, the immediate task of cognition is the study of the causes of objects. Causes can be either efficient (what are usually called causes) or final causes, i.e. goals. The science of efficient causes is physics; the science of ends or final causes is metaphysics. The task of natural science is the study of operative causes. Therefore, Bacon saw the essence of natural science in physics. Knowledge of nature is used to improve practical life. Mechanics deals with the application of knowledge of efficient causes. “Natural magic” is the application of the knowledge of final causes. Mathematics, according to Bacon, has no purpose of its own and is only an auxiliary means for natural science.

However, the views of Francis Bacon were of a dual nature: his ideas about the world could not yet be free from an appeal to God; he recognizes a dual form of truth - scientific and the truth of “revelation”.

Based on cognitive tasks, Bacon builds ontology . In solving the problem of substance he belonged to the materialists, because believed that matter itself is the cause of all causes, without being itself caused by any cause. He uses the traditional concept of form to describe matter. But for Aristotle, form is ideal, while Bacon understands form as the material essence of the properties of an object. According to him, form is a type of movement of the material particles that make up the body. The properties and qualities of an object are also material. Simple forms are carriers of a certain number of basic properties, to which the whole variety of properties of things can be reduced. There are as many elementary properties of things in nature as there are simple forms. Bacon includes color, heaviness, movement, size, heat, etc. among such forms - properties. Just as a huge number of words are made up of a small number of letters of the alphabet, so an inexhaustible number of objects and natural phenomena are made up of combinations of simple forms. Thus, Bacon considers every complex thing as a sum of simple composite forms, which means the principle of mechanism, i.e. reducing the complex to the simple - to the primary elements. He also attributes the quantitative side of things to one of the forms, but believes that it is not sufficient to define a thing.

Bacon's materialist position in understanding nature also contained dialectical positions: for example, he considered movement to be an integral internal property of matter. He even identified various forms of movement, although at that time it was customary to consider only one - mechanical, the simple movement of bodies.

Francis Bacon's materialism was limited. His teaching presupposes an understanding of the world as material, but essentially consisting of a finite number of basic parts, limited quantitatively and qualitatively. This view was further developed in the metaphysical materialism of modern European philosophy.

The duality of Bacon's position was also evident in teaching about man .

Man is dual. In its physicality, it belongs to nature and is studied by philosophy and science. But the human soul is a complex formation: it consists of a rational and sensual soul. The rational soul enters into man by “divine inspiration” and is therefore studied by theology. The sensual soul has physical features and is the subject of philosophy.

Francis Bacon's contribution to science and philosophy was of great importance, since, in contrast to scholasticism, he puts forward a new methodology aimed at genuine knowledge of nature and its internal laws. In fact, his work opened up a new historical form of philosophy - the new European one.

Francis Bacon remains in the history of philosophy as the founder of empiricism and the developer of innovative methods for studying living nature. His scientific works and works are devoted to this topic. The philosophy of Francis Bacon has found a wide response among scientists and thinkers of modern times.

Biography

Francis was born into the family of a politician and scientist Nicholas, and his wife Anne, who came from a well-known family at that time - her father raised the heir to the English and Irish thrones, Edward VI. The birth took place on January 22, 1561 in London.

From childhood, the boy was taught to be diligent and his thirst for knowledge was supported. As a teenager, he attended college at Cambridge University, then went to study in France, but the death of his father led to the fact that young Bacon had no money left, which affected his biography. Then he began to study law and from 1582 earned his living as a lawyer. Two years later he entered parliament, where he immediately became a prominent and significant figure. This led to his being appointed seven years later as an advisor to the Earl of Essex, who was the queen's favorite at the time. After the coup attempt launched by Essex in 1601, Bacon took part in court hearings as a prosecutor.

Criticizing the policies of the royal family, Francis lost the queen's patronage and was able to resume his career in full only in 1603, when a new monarch was on the throne. That same year he became a knight, and fifteen years later a baron. Three years later he was granted the title of Viscount, but the same year he was charged with bribery and deprived of his post, closing the doors to the royal court.

Despite the fact that he devoted many years of his life to law and advocacy, his heart was given to philosophy. He developed new thinking tools by criticizing Aristotle's deduction.

The Thinker died because of one of his experiments. He studied how cold affects the putrefactive process that had begun and caught a cold. At the age of sixty-five he died. After his death, one of the main works written by him was published - unfinished - “New Atlantis”. In it, he foresaw many discoveries of subsequent centuries, based on experimental knowledge.

General characteristics of the philosophy of Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon became the first major philosopher of his time and ushered in the Age of Reason. Despite the fact that he was well acquainted with the teachings of thinkers who lived in ancient and medieval times, he was convinced that the path they pointed out was false. Philosophers of past centuries focused on moral and metaphysical truths, forgetting that knowledge should bring practical benefits to people. He contrasts idle curiosity, which philosophizing has hitherto served, with the production of material wealth.

Being a bearer of the practical Anglo-Saxon spirit, Bacon did not seek knowledge for the sake of the pursuit of truth. He did not recognize the approach to philosophy through religious scholasticism. He believed that man is destined to dominate the animal world, and he must explore the world rationally and consumeristly.

He saw power in knowledge that can be applied in practice. The evolution of humanity is possible only through domination over nature. These theses became key in the worldview and philosophical teachings of the Renaissance.

Bacon's "New Atlantis"

One of Bacon's most important works is considered to be "New Atlantis", named by analogy with the work of Plato. The thinker devoted time to writing a utopian novel from 1623 to 1624. Despite the fact that the book was published unfinished, it quickly gained popularity among the masses.

Francis Bacon spoke about a society that was ruled only by scientists. This society was found by English sailors who landed on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They discovered that life on the island is subordinated to the House of Solomon - an organization that includes not politicians, but scientists. The house aims to expand people's power over the world of wildlife so that it works for them. In special rooms, experiments were carried out on calling thunder and lightning, producing frogs and other living creatures from nothing.

Later, using the novel as a basis, they created real scientific academies involved in the analysis and verification of phenomena. An example of such an organization is the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Science and Arts.

Now, some of the reasoning in the novel may seem naive, but in the era when it was published, the views on scientific knowledge expressed in it were popular. The power of man seemed enormous, based on divine powers, and knowledge should have helped him realize power over the natural world. Bacon believed that the leading sciences should be magic and alchemy, which could help achieve this power.

To work for people, experimental science must have large complexes of structures, engines powered by water and air, power plants, gardens, nature reserves and reservoirs where experiments could be carried out. As a result, they need to learn to work with both living and inorganic nature. Much attention is paid to the design of various mechanisms and machines that can move faster than a bullet. Military vehicles, weapons for battles - all this is described in detail in the book.

Only the Renaissance is characterized by such a strong focus on changing the natural world. As a proponent of alchemy, Bacon tries to imagine in New Atlantis how it is possible to grow a plant without the use of seeds, to create animals from thin air using knowledge of substances and compounds. He was supported by such prominent figures in medicine, biology and philosophy as Buffon, Perrault and Marriott. In this, Francis Bacon's theory differs radically from Aristotle's ideas about the immutability and constancy of animal and plant species, which had an influence on the zoology of modern times.

The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Science and Arts, created on the basis of the communities described in New Atlantis, paid a lot of attention to light experiments - just like the scientists in Bacon's novel.

Bacon "The Great Restoration of the Sciences"

Francis Bacon believes that alchemy and magic could serve man. In order for knowledge to be socially controlled, he abandons the magical. In The Great Restoration of the Sciences, he emphasizes that real knowledge cannot belong to private individuals - a group of "initiates." It is publicly available and can be understood by anyone.

Bacon also speaks of the need to reduce philosophy to deeds, and not to words, as was the case before. Traditionally, philosophy served the soul, and Bacon considers it right to end this tradition. He rejects ancient Greek philosophy, Aristotle's dialectics, and the works of Plato. Continuing the tradition accepted in philosophy, humanity will not advance in scientific knowledge and will only multiply the mistakes of past thinkers. Bacon notes that traditional philosophy is dominated by illogicality and vague concepts that seem fictitious and have no basis in reality.

In contrast to what is described, Francis Bacon proposes true induction, when science moves forward gradually, relying on intermediate axioms, monitoring the knowledge achieved and testing it with experience. He identifies two ways to search for truth:

Through feelings and special cases - to achieve the most general axioms, which must be narrowed and specified, compared with already known facts.
Through feelings and the particular - to general axioms, the meaning of which is not narrowed, but expanded to the most general laws.

As a result of such active knowledge, humanity will come to a scientific and technical civilization, leaving the historical and literary type of culture in the past. The thinker considered it necessary to harmonize the communication of the mind and things. To do this, it is necessary to get rid of the ethereal and vague concepts that are used in science and philosophy. Then, you need to look at things anew and examine them using modern, accurate means.

In The Great Restoration of the Sciences, Bacon encourages his contemporaries to emphasize sciences that are practical and improve the lives of mankind. This marked the beginning of a sharp change in orientation in the culture of Europe, when science, seen by many as idle and suspicious, became an important and prestigious part of culture. Most philosophers of that time followed Bacon's example and took up science instead of scholastic knowledge, which was divorced from the real laws of nature.

Bacon's New Organon

Bacon is a modern philosopher not only because he was born during the Renaissance, but also because of his views on the progressive role of science in public life. In his work “New Organon”, he compares science with water, which can fall from the sky or come from the bowels of the earth. Just as water has a divine origin and a sensual essence, so science is divided into philosophy and theology.

He argues for the concept of the duality of true knowledge, insisting on a clear separation between the fields of theology and philosophy. Theology studies the divine, and Bacon does not deny that everything that exists is the creation of God. Just as objects of art speak about the talent and power of art of their creator, so what God created says little about the latter. Francis Bacon concludes that God cannot be an object of science, but must remain only an object of faith. This means that philosophy must stop trying to penetrate into the divine and concentrate on nature, knowing it through experience and observation.

He criticizes scientific discoveries, saying that they do not correspond to scientific progress and lag behind the vital needs of society. This means that all science as a collective knowledge must be improved so that it is ahead of practice, making new discoveries and inventions possible. The activation of the human mind and the control of natural phenomena is the main goal of the revival of science.

“Organom” contains logical clues that tell us how to combine thinking and practice so that they allow us to master the forces of nature. Bacon rejects the old method of syllogism as absolutely helpless and useless.

Francis Bacon on idols

Francis Bacon developed his own theory about the prejudices that dominate the minds of people. She talks about “idols,” which the modern thinker also calls “ghosts” for their ability to distort reality. Before learning to understand things and phenomena, it is important to get rid of these idols.

In total, they allocated four types of idols:

idols of the “genus”;
“cave” idols;
idols of the “market”;
idols of the "theater".

The first category includes ghost idols, inherent in every person, since his mind and senses are imperfect. These idols force him to compare nature with himself and endow it with the same qualities. Bacon rebels against the thesis of Protagoras, who says that man is the measure of all things. Francis Bacon states that the human mind, like a bad mirror, reflects the world in the wrong way. As a result, a theological worldview and anthropomorphism are born.

Idols-ghosts of the “cave” are generated by the person himself under the influence of his living conditions, characteristics of upbringing and education. A person looks at the world from the cover of his own “cave,” that is, from the point of view of personal experience. Overcoming such idols consists in using the experience accumulated by a collection of individuals - society, and constant observation.

Since people are constantly in contact with each other and live shoulder to shoulder, idols of the “market” are born. They are supported by the use of speech, old concepts, and recourse to words that distort the essence of things and thinking. To avoid this, Bacon recommends abandoning verbal learning, which remained in those days from the Middle Ages. The main idea is to change the categories of thinking.

The hallmark of “theater” idols is blind faith in authority. The philosopher considers the old philosophical system to be such authorities. If you believe the ancients, then the perception of things will be distorted, prejudices and bias will arise. To defeat such ghosts, one should turn to modern experience and study nature.

All the described “ghosts” are obstacles to scientific knowledge, since thanks to them false ideas are born that do not allow us to fully understand the world. The transformation of sciences according to Bacon is impossible without abandoning the above and relying on experience and experiment as part of knowledge, and not on the thoughts of the ancients.

The modern thinker also considers superstitions to be among the reasons that delay the development of scientific knowledge. The theory of dual truth, described above and distinguishing between the study of God and the real world, is intended to protect philosophers from superstition.

Bacon explained the weak progress in science by the lack of correct ideas about the object of knowledge and the very purpose of study. The correct object must be matter. Philosophers and scientists must identify its properties and study schemes for transforming it from one object to another. Human life should be enriched by science through actual discoveries implemented in life.

Bacon's empirical method of scientific knowledge

After the method of cognition - induction - is determined, Francis Bacon offers several main paths along which cognitive activity can proceed:

"the way of the spider";
"the path of the ant";
"The way of the bee"

The first way is understood as obtaining knowledge in a rationalistic way, but this implies isolation from reality, because rationalists rely on their own reasoning, and not on experience and facts. Their web of thoughts is woven from their own thoughts.

Those who take only experience into account follow the “path of the ant.” This method is called "dogmatic empiricism" and it is based on information obtained from facts and practice. Empiricists have access to an external picture of knowledge, but not the essence of the problem.

The ideal method of knowledge is the last way - empirical. In short, the thinker’s idea is this: to apply the method, you need to combine two other paths and remove their shortcomings and contradictions. Knowledge is derived from a set of generalized facts using reason. This method can be called empiricism, which is based on deduction.

Bacon remained in the history of philosophy not only as a person who laid the foundation for the development of individual sciences, but also as a thinker who outlined the need to change the movement of knowledge. He was at the origins of experimental science, which sets the right direction for the theoretical and practical activities of people.

Born in London on January 22, 1561, he was the youngest son in the family of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge University for two years, then spent three years in France in the retinue of the English ambassador. After the death of his father in 1579, he was left practically without a livelihood and entered the Gray's Inn school of barristers to study law. In 1582 he became a barrister, and in 1584 a member of parliament and until 1614 he played a prominent role in debates at sessions of the House of Commons. From time to time he composed messages to Queen Elizabeth, in which he sought to take an impartial approach to pressing political issues; Perhaps, if the queen had followed his advice, some conflicts between the crown and parliament could have been avoided. However, his ability as a statesman did not help his career, partly because Lord Burghley saw in Bacon a rival to his son, and partly because he lost Elizabeth's favor by courageously opposing, on principles of principle, the passage of the Bill for Grants of covering expenses incurred in the war with Spain (1593). Around 1591 he became an adviser to the queen's favorite, the Earl of Essex, who offered him a generous reward. However, Bacon made it clear to his patron that he was devoted first of all to his country, and when in 1601 Essex tried to organize a coup, Bacon, as a king's lawyer, took part in his condemnation as a state traitor. Under Elizabeth, Bacon never rose to any high positions, but after James I Stuart ascended the throne in 1603, he quickly advanced through the ranks. In 1607 he took the position of Solicitor General, in 1613 - Attorney General, in 1617 - Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and in 1618 received the post of Lord Chancellor, the highest in the structure of the judiciary. Bacon was knighted in 1603 and created Baron of Verulam in 1618 and Viscount of St. Albans in 1621. In the same year he was accused of accepting bribes. Bacon admitted receiving gifts from people whose cases were being tried in court, but denied that this had any influence on his decision. Bacon was stripped of all his posts and banned from appearing at court. He spent the remaining years before his death in solitude.

Bacon's main literary creation is considered to be the Essayes, on which he worked continuously for 28 years; ten essays were published in 1597, and by 1625 the book had already collected 58 essays, some of which were published in the third edition in revised form (The Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall). The style of the Experiments is laconic and didactic, replete with scientific examples and brilliant metaphors. Bacon called his experiments “fragmentary reflections” about ambition, relatives and friends, about love, wealth, about the pursuit of science, about honors and glory, about the vicissitudes of things and other aspects of human life. In them you can find cold calculation, which is not mixed with emotions or impractical idealism, advice for those who are making a career. There are, for example, such aphorisms: “Everyone who rises high passes through the zigzags of a spiral staircase” and “Wife and children are hostages of fate, for the family is an obstacle to the accomplishment of great deeds, both good and evil.” Bacon's treatise On the Wisdom of the Ancients (De Sapientia Veterum, 1609) is an allegorical interpretation of the hidden truths contained in ancient myths. His History of the Reign of Henry VII (Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, 1622) is distinguished by lively characterization and clear political analysis.

Despite Bacon's studies in politics and jurisprudence, the main concern of his life was philosophy and science, and he majestically declared: “All knowledge is the province of my care.” He rejected Aristotelian deduction, which at that time occupied a dominant position, as an unsatisfactory way of philosophizing. In his opinion, a new tool of thinking, a “new organon”, should be proposed, with the help of which it would be possible to restore human knowledge on a more reliable basis. A general outline of the “great plan for the restoration of the sciences” was made by Bacon in 1620 in the preface to the work New Organon, or True Instructions for the Interpretation of Nature (Novum Organum). This work consisted of six parts: a general overview of the current state of the sciences, a description of a new method of obtaining true knowledge, a body of empirical data, a discussion of issues subject to further research, preliminary solutions, and, finally, philosophy itself. Bacon managed to make only sketches of the first two parts. The first was called On the benefits and success of knowledge (Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Humane, 1605), the Latin version of which, On the dignity and increase of the sciences (De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum, 1623), came out with corrections and many additions. According to Bacon, there are four kinds of “idols” that besiege the minds of people. The first type is idols of the family (mistakes that a person makes by virtue of his very nature). The second type is cave idols (mistakes due to prejudice). The third type is the idols of the square (errors caused by inaccuracies in the use of language). The fourth type is theater idols (mistakes made as a result of the adoption of various philosophical systems). Describing the current prejudices that hinder the development of science, Bacon proposed a tripartite division of knowledge, made according to mental functions, and attributed history to memory, poetry to imagination, and philosophy (in which he included the sciences) to reason. He also gave an overview of the limits and nature of human knowledge in each of these categories and pointed out important areas of research that had hitherto been neglected. In the second part of the book, Bacon described the principles of the inductive method, with the help of which he proposed to overthrow all the idols of reason.

In his unfinished story The New Atlantis (written 1614, published 1627), Bacon describes a utopian community of scientists engaged in collecting and analyzing data of all kinds according to the scheme of the third part of the great plan of restoration. New Atlantis is an excellent social and cultural system that exists on the island of Bensalem, lost somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The religion of the Atlanteans is Christianity, miraculously revealed to the inhabitants of the island; the unit of society is the highly respected family; The type of government is essentially a monarchy. The main institution of the state is Solomon's House, the College of the Six Days of Creation, a research center from which emanate scientific discoveries and inventions that ensure the happiness and prosperity of the citizens. It is sometimes believed that it was Solomon's house that served as the prototype of the Royal Society of London, established during the reign of Charles II in 1662.