Francis Bacon

English philosopher, statesman, and essayist of the early modern era

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About

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher and statesman, is regarded as the father of empiricism and the modern scientific method. Son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, he studied at Cambridge and became a lawyer. He sat in Parliament for nearly forty years and held the highest offices under James I, until his disgrace in 1621 for corruption. His major work, Novum Organum (1620), advocates inductive reasoning over Aristotelian deductive logic. He also wrote The Advancement of Learning (1605), the Essays (1597-1625), and the utopian fable The New Atlantis (published posthumously). He died of pneumonia, likely contracted during an experiment on preserving meat by cold.

Major works

The Advancement of Learning (1605)philosophical treatise
Novum Organum (1620)philosophical treatise
Essays (1597)essays
The New Atlantis (1627)utopian fable
History of Henry VII (1622)history

Key milestones

1561Born in London, England.
1621Impeached as Lord Chancellor for bribery, fined, briefly imprisoned in the Tower of London.
1626Died at Highgate, likely of pneumonia contracted during an experiment on freezing.

Themes

EmpiricismScientific methodInductionKnowledge and powerUtopia

Sources: plato.stanford.edu · britannica.com · bbc.com

“To be a winner, all you have to give is all you have. /60 If we are to achieve results never before accomplished, we must expect to employ methods never before attempted.”

— Francis BaconTheme · Motivation

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“A wise man makes more opportunities than he finds.”

— Francis BaconTheme · Wisdom

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“A crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.”

— Francis BaconTheme · Love

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“It is impossible to love and be wise.”

— Francis BaconTheme · Love

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“For knowledge, too, is itself power.”

— Francis BaconTheme · Knowledge

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“Knowledge and human power are synonymous, since the ignorance of the cause frustrates the effect.”

— Francis BaconTheme · Knowledge

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“Knowledge is a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man’s estate.”

— Francis BaconTheme · Spirituality

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“The images of men’s wits and knowledge remain in books. . . . They generate still, and cast their seeds in the minds of others, provoking and causing infinite actions and opinions in succeeding ages.”

— Francis BaconTheme · Literature

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