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Francis Bacon
Author · 36 books

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, QC (1560-1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, essayist, and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. After his death, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution. Bacon has been called the creator of empiricism. His works established and popularised inductive methodologies for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method, or simply the scientific method. His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all things natural marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds conceptions of proper methodology today. Bacon was knighted in 1603 (being the first scientist to receive a knighthood), and created Baron Verulam in 1618 and Viscount St. Alban in 1621. Bacon's ideas were influential in the 1630s and 1650s among scholars, in particular Sir Thomas Browne, who in his encyclopaedia Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646–72) frequently adheres to a Baconian approach to his scientific enquiries. During the Restoration, Bacon was commonly invoked as a guiding spirit of the Royal Society founded under Charles II in 1660. During the 18th-century French Enlightenment, Bacon's non-metaphysical approach to science became more influential than the dualism of his French contemporary René Descartes, and was associated with criticism of the ancien regime. In 1733 Voltaire "introduced him as the "father" of the scientific method" to a French audience, an understanding which had become widespread by 1750. In the 19th century his emphasis on induction was revived and developed by William Whewell, among others. He has been reputed as the "Father of Experimental Science". Bacon is also considered because of his introduction of science in England to be the philosophical influence behind the dawning of the Industrial age. In his works, Bacon stated "the explanation of which things, and of the true relation between the nature of things and the nature of the mind, is as the strewing and decoration of the bridal chamber of the mind and the universe, out of which marriage let us hope there may spring helps to man, and a line and race of inventions that may in some degree subdue and overcome the necessities and miseries of humanity" meaning he hoped that through the understanding of mechanics using the Scientific Method, society will create more mechanical inventions that will to an extent solve the problems of Man. This changed the course of science in history, from a experimental state, as it was found in medieval ages, to an experimental and inventive state – that would have eventually led to the mechanical inventions that made possible the Industrial Revolutions of the following centuries. He also wrote a long treatise on Medicine, History of Life and Death, with natural and experimental observations for the prolongation of life. For one of his biographers, the historian William Hepworth Dixon, Bacon's influence in modern world is so great that every man who rides in a train, sends a telegram, follows a steam plough, sits in an easy chair, crosses the channel or the Atlantic, eats a good dinner, enjoys a beautiful garden, or undergoes a painless surgical operation, owes him something. Francis Bacon's philosophy is displayed in the vast and varied writings he left, which might be divided in three great branches: Scientific works – in which his ideas for an universal reform of knowledge into scientific methodology and the improvement of mankind's state using the Scientific method are presented. Literary works – in which he presents his moral philosophy. Juridical works – in which his reforms in English Law are proposed. Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with thi

Series

Books

The Oxford Francis Bacon IV book cover

The Oxford Francis Bacon IV

1605

The Advancement of Learning/New Atlantis

1913

The Major Works book cover

The Major Works

2002

The Great Instauration book cover

The Great Instauration

1767

The Essays of Francis Bacon and Other Works (Unexpurgated Edition) book cover

The Essays of Francis Bacon and Other Works (Unexpurgated Edition)

2009

24 Essays by Francis Bacon book cover

24 Essays by Francis Bacon

2008

Advancement of Learning/Novum organum/New Atlantis book cover

Advancement of Learning/Novum organum/New Atlantis

1944

History of the Reign of King Henry VII book cover

History of the Reign of King Henry VII

1622

The Collected Works of Sir Francis Bacon (Unexpurgated Edition) book cover

The Collected Works of Sir Francis Bacon (Unexpurgated Edition)

1837

Francis Bacon book cover

Francis Bacon

The Major Works

2008

The Complete Works of Sir Francis Bacon book cover

The Complete Works of Sir Francis Bacon

2013

Of Truth by Francis Bacon book cover

Of Truth by Francis Bacon

2010

Sevgi Üstüne book cover

Sevgi Üstüne

2019

Essays, Advancement of learning, New Atlantis, and Other Pieces book cover

Essays, Advancement of learning, New Atlantis, and Other Pieces

2000

The New Atlantis book cover

The New Atlantis

1621

Novum Organum with Other Parts of The Great Instauration book cover

Novum Organum with Other Parts of The Great Instauration

1994

The Oxford Francis Bacon, VI book cover

The Oxford Francis Bacon, VI

Philosophical Studies c.1611-c.1619

1996

Instauratio Magna. Novum Organum. Nueva Atlántida. book cover

Instauratio Magna. Novum Organum. Nueva Atlántida.

2009

The Complete Harvard Classics 2021 Edition - ALL 71 Volumes book cover

The Complete Harvard Classics 2021 Edition - ALL 71 Volumes

The Five Foot Shelf & The Shelf of Fiction

1722

Of Empire book cover

Of Empire

1597

Wisdom of the Ancients book cover

Wisdom of the Ancients

1609

The New Organon book cover

The New Organon

1620

Selected Philosophical Works book cover

Selected Philosophical Works

1605

The Physical And Metaphysical Works Of Lord Bacon book cover

The Physical And Metaphysical Works Of Lord Bacon

Including The Advancement Of Learning And Novum Organum

1901

The Essays book cover

The Essays

1597

Assaig book cover

Assaig

1976

New Atlantis and The Great Instauration book cover

New Atlantis and The Great Instauration

1620

The New Atlantis and The City of the Sun book cover

The New Atlantis and The City of the Sun

Two Classic Utopias

2003

The Wisdom Of The Ancients And New Atlantis book cover

The Wisdom Of The Ancients And New Atlantis

1596

On Gardens book cover

On Gardens

Two Essays

1625

De la sabiduría egoísta book cover

De la sabiduría egoísta

2014

Francis Bacon book cover

Francis Bacon

1975

Novum Organum / Nova Atlântida book cover

Novum Organum / Nova Atlântida

1620

The Great Instauration and the Novum Organum book cover

The Great Instauration and the Novum Organum

1996

Essays ; Advancement of learning ; New Atlantis book cover

Essays ; Advancement of learning ; New Atlantis

1982

50 Masterpieces you have to read before you die vol book cover

50 Masterpieces you have to read before you die vol

1

2024

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Francis Bacon