FRANCIS BACON: BIOGRAPHY, PHILOSOPHY, CONTRIBUTIONS AND WORKS - PHILOSOPHY - 2024

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a notorious English philosopher, politician, lawyer, and writer, whose insights made him the father of philosophical and scientific empiricism. His contributions are synthesized in three genres; literary, political and philosophical.

The latter was the most important for masterpieces such as The Advancement of Knowledge (1605) and Indications Relating to the Interpretation of Nature (Novum Organum) (1620), his main creation.

His research focused on reformulating the techniques of scientific study, since in his opinion the conclusions obtained about nature were not only wrong, but also hindered the advancement of science.

For Sir Francis Bacon the senses represent the fundamental basis of knowledge, while the discovery of nature and its phenomena is the purpose of research.

Through reflections exposed in his works on morals and politics achieved in the year 1597, he became known as one of the great founders of the essay in England, a method that in addition to providing a shared intellectual experience, is easily understandable.

Biography

Childhood and studies

Francis Bacon was born on January 22, 1561, in the city of London, England. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, bearer of the important seal of Elizabeth I, and Anne Cooke Bacon, one of the most enlightened and cultured women of her time.

His mother was in charge of educating him during the first years of life under Puritan and Calvinist principles.

After attending Cambridge University and London's prestigious Gray's Inn Bar, Bacon became a Member of the British Parliament in 1584.

Despite this, Elizabeth I was not very fond of him, which is why her career only flourished when King James I came to power in 1603.

During this same year, Bacon was awarded the title of knighthood, along with the right to bear the seal of the Crown after his father died.

First studies in philosophy

However, Bacon's real interests were oriented toward science. It is important to note that most of the scientific work developed at that time focused on the ideas of Ancient Greece and Aristotelian thought.

Thus, Bacon began by studying various scientific principles based on the methodology of Aristotle.

It held that scientific truth could eventually be revealed if several intelligent men discussed a given topic for a considerable period of time.

In time, Bacon challenged this authoritarian argument, looking for real evidence to prove its veracity.

Novum Organum

Thus, in 1620 he decided to write and publish his ideas in the book Indications relating to the interpretation of nature (Novum Organum). There he pointed out the correct way in which human beings can acquire knowledge naturally.

Before the publication of the Novum Organum, Bacon's political career continued to rise. In 1618 he was appointed Chancellor, taking the most powerful political office in England.

Also in the year 1621 he was assigned as Viscount of St Albans. During this period he was singled out negatively by Parliament, admitting the acceptance of various bribes.

Thanks to the charges brought against him, Bacon was fined, put in prison, and dismissed from court. Despite the king's public forgiveness, his public and political career would come to an end during this period.

Death

After being released from prison, Bacon retired to his home in Gorhambury, Hertfordshire, where he continued his writing work. He died on April 9, 1626, in London.

Philosophy

The thought of Francis Bacon is considered one of the main and first within the context of modern philosophy.

From a young age, Bacon considered that it was necessary for philosophy to generate benefits in daily life, and that all that doctrine of thought that remained in the academic field was sterile.

Bacon believed that there were still many obstacles that prevented a more realistic and true philosophy of nature from being thought of. Therefore, his intention was to remove these obstacles and offer a different kind of thinking.

So Francis Bacon focused on what he called natural philosophy, which later became known as physics.

Bacon's true intention was to come to understand everyday situations and how people in general could be made to make improvements to these situations.

Abstract thinking

For Bacon, abstract aspects were preferred by the so-called intellectual elite, and he considered that over-analyzing these subjects had no positive effect on people, interested in more earthly realms, so to speak.

Therefore, for Bacon the thinking of Plato and Aristotle was focused in a wrong way, so that very early he became an opponent of these types of thinking.

For Bacon, both the sciences and all artistic expressions had to be at the disposal of the human being and be accountable to him.

One of the important points of his thought is that he gave special importance to analyzing and discovering what manages to improve people's quality of life, whose real functionality is appreciated in the results obtained by the same people.

Science and religion

With regard to religion, for Bacon it was not justifiable that the Church felt threatened by the evolution of the sciences.

Bacon believed that it was possible that very little knowledge of science had a negative influence on people's religious beliefs, leading them to consider the non-existence of God.

However, Bacon also states that on the contrary, when there is a deep and wide knowledge of the sciences and their implications, it causes human beings to believe in God again.

One aspect that Bacon does establish clearly is his contempt for theologically-based discussions, since he considers that they trigger many conflicts and that they are unfavorable in generating a peaceful social context.

Democratization of philosophy

When referring to Francis Bacon, some authors highlight the fact that this scientist managed to democratize philosophy, since the most interesting element for him was the affairs of human beings.

Bacon believed that material progress was important, but that by itself it would not generate absolute happiness in people.

For him, the only way in which this material progress could result in greater happiness is if the foundations on which this progress is built is love, considered not as an idea or concept, but reflected in specific works.

Rejection of ancient philosophy

Francis Bacon became a staunch opponent of ancient philosophy, especially Greek philosophy. He considered that this thought had no application in everyday life, so it was not useful.

Part of Bacon's approaches can be explained in the Protestant current of the time, which evidenced a rejection of philosophy, basically because it did not consider it an activity for practical purposes. Bacon believed that Aristotelian logic worked only for conducting verbal disputes.

Francis Bacon can be considered a representative of Protestant thought, whose foundations downplayed the importance of contemplative thought. It is in this context that Bacon considers that the so-called scholastic philosophy is contrary to the human being, insofar as its character is clearly contemplative, and even speculative.

For Bacon, only the fact of the practicality of the elements indicates whether they are indeed true.

Focus

The focus of Francis Bacon's thought is on results. The philosophy he proposed is based on the logic of a process that is technical-scientific in nature.

Bacon introduces experiments as those tools that serve to dominate nature, through which it is possible to enumerate the data and interpret it according to what the senses have made us observe or perceive.

For Bacon, there is a series of prejudices, which he calls idols, which are a great obstacle to the understanding of the world by human beings. Bacon estimates that men's capacity for understanding is much lower, so it is necessary to get rid of those prejudices that cloud this understanding.

The idols mentioned by Bacon are four: of the cave, of the tribe, of the theater and of the public square or of the forum.

-The idols of the cave are the prejudices that have been acquired by people as a result of the education received, as well as all those habits that have been obtained over time.

-The idols of the tribe correspond to the prejudices that are in common use among all the people who are part of the same society.

-The idols of the theater are those who come from what Bacon considers false philosophy.

-The idols of the public square or of the forum are those that correspond to the prejudices learned as a result of the misuse of language, being often used inaccurately.

Scientific method

After listing the main prejudices that human beings are faced with, Francis Bacon establishes the importance of ordering experiences, so that the results obtained from observations are as close to the truth as possible.

It is in this area where he introduces logical induction, as a fundamental element of the scientific method.

For Bacon, there are three fundamental elements for the organization and subsequent interpretation of the data generated from the observation. He called the set of these three elements Theory of the three tables.

The first table was called by Bacon as the “table of presence”, and corresponds to the scenario in which it must be indicated in which cases the phenomenon that is being observed takes place.

The second table was called the "absence table", and it is the space in which the cases in which the phenomenon being studied is not generated must be indicated.

Finally, the third table was called the "degree table", and corresponds to the scenario in which the cases in which the phenomenon in question presents variations in terms of different degrees of intensity will be indicated.

Most significant contributions

Essay

The essay is a text written in prose in which an author develops his ideas on a certain topic with character and personal style.

Although the essay initially appeared in 1580 with a work by the French writer Michel de Montaigne, it was in 1597 when Francis Bacon made his masterpieces Essays, made up of ten writings that would make him -according to his contemporaries- the main reference of the essay.

These writings, - expanded in the second edition (1612) with 38 additional essays - designated by Bacon as "a recreation of my other studies", achieved great popularity for their simple styling, without linguistic embellishments, and addressed issues of a public or private nature., analyzed from different perspectives.

Novum Organum

In 1620 Francis Bacon wrote his work Novum Organum (Indications regarding the interpretation of Nature), which defends science as the proper method for man to have control over nature.

In the next section we will discuss this work in detail.

Inductive method

The inductive method provides the researcher with general data starting from a more detailed one. This concept summarizes what Mora (1990) raises, who assures that:

It consists of that formal logical procedure that starts from universal principles (deductive method) and then applies to specific facts or cases, or that proceeds in reverse (inductive method), that is, that starts from concrete facts and data to infer from there logically conclusions or generalizations of a more universal character. (p.211)

Bacon tried to create, through the inductive method, a practical tool to analyze experiences, starting from very specific or common characteristics among the analyzed factors and thus reaching a more generalized conclusion.

This great philosopher is credited with having included logic to inductivism, a formula that was of great importance in the development of research and an improvement in scientific hypotheses.

The use of technology

During his career, Bacon produced an extensive documentary body. Although his analyzes of scientific thinking did not have a significant impact, the way in which the work of science should be carried out served as guidelines.

For Bacon the use of technology was essential and had to be democratized. He argued that during the seventeenth century people made use of better technology, compared to what existed in the Classical Age.

Some examples that Bacon pointed out included the printing press, which allowed the democratization of knowledge; gunpowder, which gave armies greater power; and the magnetic compass, which facilitated the navigation of ships and allowed the discovery of the Americas.

The new scientific world

In his book Instauratio, Bacon points out that knowledge can be discovered in all human activities.

Thanks to him, thinkers began to move away from the ideas of classical thinkers (coming from Mediterranean territories), and began to propose methods of exploring nature, some of them in force until today.

The scientific field was enriched both economically and intellectually thanks to Bacon's postulates and the discoveries derived from them.

Rejection of classical philosophy: a new way of thinking

During the seventeenth century, most professors and thinkers were in charge of studying Aristotle's words and his studies on nature, as if they were absolute truths. No schoolboy allowed science to be studied in any other way.

Bacon, by contrast, took it upon himself to replace the works of Aristotle and Plato (based on logical and philosophical arguments), with a new body of study and scientific knowledge (based on experiments and observations).

He also objected to the tendency of Aristotle, Plato, and most of the Greek philosophers, to mix scientific and religious ideas.

Bacon believed that science and religion should be studied independently of each other. He differed widely with those who held that the laws of nature were part of a "higher" purpose.

Bacon believed that the laws of nature were in the world ready to be discovered, and where possible, exploited.

Questions about nature

Bacon believed that the secrets of nature are not easy to uncover. He stated that to know what she has to offer we must work vigorously, asking as many questions as possible.

In order to discover the secrets of nature, we must use experimentation and questions. Only then can we reveal the truth in it.

The truth of nature is not revealed from Aristotelian philosophical observation, it goes beyond meditation and ideas.

The truth of nature is revealed with the help of data, collected in a consistent and organized way. These data are subsequently analyzed.

Empirical theory of philosophy

For Bacon, nature can only be known through the senses. This should be the only object of study, since it has many qualities and forms.

This is how Bacon maintains that the interpretation that the senses make of nature is always true and represents a primary source of knowledge.

Bacón left within his legacy the notion of obedience of an ever-changing nature composed of laws.

According to Bacon's judgment, nature could never be dominated, since the matter that composes it is always in motion.

Plays

Francis Bacon produced various works, framed in different areas, among which the political, literary and philosophical stood out. Two of his most important works in the field of philosophy are described below:

The advance of knowledge

The Advancement of Knowledge was a work published by Bacon in 1605. This book was thought to be merely a draft of what is considered to be Bacon's major work, called Novum organum.

However, various investigations have shown that The Advancement of Knowledge corresponds to a work in itself. With an interesting approach, the roots and evolution of Francis Bacon's thought are discussed.

This was one of the first works of Bacon, which began to be produced when this author was already 40 years old, due to the fact that he had previously dedicated himself exclusively to politics.

Novum organum scientarum

The title of this work is translated into Spanish as New Instruments of Science, and corresponds to the most relevant book of the written and published by Francis Bacon.

The book was created with one main purpose; to discredit the Aristotelian works known as Organon, which according to Bacon reflected a series of errors known as "idols": of the tribe, cave, public square and theater.

In Novum Organum (1620) Bacon explains that:

«Man, by his fall, lost his state of innocence and his empire over creation, but both losses can, in part, be repaired in this life, the first through religion and Faith, the second through arts and religion. science »(p.199).

Bacon completely disapproved of Aristotle's theories and reproached his methods, believing that they were useless because they enjoyed a tedious style, oriented exclusively for debates and not for the benefit of originating works of great value to human life.

Bacon deduced that the Industrial Revolution would usher in great challenges that would force people to find practical tools that would interfere with Aristotelian logic.

In the Novum Organum it differs from Aristotle's Organon in two contributions: a method to carry out advanced inductions, and another of exclusion, in which Bacon proposes that initially it is necessary to obtain broad and accurate data and then begin to eliminate some of them (theory destructive).

Then he proposes a constructive method which he calls the "theory of the three tables"; the first is the table of presence in which it is indicated in which space this phenomenon occurs.

In the absence table the opposite is specified, that is, in which this nature does not occur. Finally, there is the table of degrees that indicates the different degrees of intensity in which the environment is observed.

References

1. Bacon, F. (1984). Novum Organum. Aphorisms on the interpretation of Nature and the kingdom of man. Translation by Cristobal Litrán. Barcelona: Orbis.
2. Bacon, F. (1620). Novum Organum. First edition. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers.
3. Mora, A. (1990). Philosophical perspectives of man. First edition. San José, CR: Euned, Ed. Univ. Estatal a Distancia, p.211.
4. Weinberg, L. (2006) Trial Situation. Literature and Essay in Latin America and the Caribbean. First edition. Mexico: Unam, Coordinating Center and Diffuser of Latin American Studies, p.1.
5. BBC History. (2014). Retrieved from Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626): bbc.co.uk
6. Famous Scientists. (December 1, 2015). Obtained from Francis Bacon: famousscientists.org