Philosophy / Science Philosophers Datebook: January 22
A brief biography of the philosophy and works of English philosopher, statesman, lawyer and essayist Francis Bacon. His best known books include The Advancement of Learning, Novum Organum and New Atlantis. He's famous for the popular quote “Knowledge is power.”
English philosopher of science, statesman and essayist Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Alban (b. January 22, 1561, The Strand, London - d. April 9, 1626, Highgate, Middlesex), was the forerunner of the famed British school of philosophers that include Locke, Berkeley, Hume, J.S. Mill and Bertrand Russell. His important works include Novum Organum, The Advancement of Learning, and New Atlantis.
Francis Bacon became a Chancellor after King James I’s succession of Queen Elizabeth I. Attributed as the originator of the saying “knowledge is power,” his importance as a philosopher is most notable with regard to his concern for scientific method.
Bacon’s Logic Away from Plato and Aristotle
Bacon was troubled by the two schools of thoughts, Platonism and Aristotelian: Platonism – by which knowledge could be gained by examining content and meaning of words, and Aristotelian – by which intent was on collecting masses of empirical data.
Bacon moved away from the ideas of Plato and Aristotle and advocated a science based on observation and inductive hypothesis.
Bacon’s Philosophy of Inductive Empiricism
Bacon was concerned with the problem of induction. The main problem of induction was that the mere repetitive occurrence of an incident does not guarantee that the same thing will happen again. Bacon responded to this problem by placing the emphasis of investigation on looking for negative instances of disconfirm hypotheses, rather than finding ways to confirm them. Despite his detractors, he greatly influenced later 20th century philosopher Karl Popper who produced his falsificationist scientific methodology.
Bacon’s hypothesis was later strongly refuted by David Hume. However, Bacon was less interested in the problem of justifying inductive generalizations, but in how to generate good inductive hypotheses out of the masses of data collected by observation. He argued that what was needed was a new way of collating and organizing data, which would help generate inductive hypotheses.
His method was undoubtedly one way of applying order to a body of data, however, it was unlikely to fulfill his desire to find a systematic way of deriving scientific hypotheses from the data arrangement.
An Insight to Bacon’s Philosophy
His concern for scientific method was immense. Francis Bacon argued that nature could only be understood through systematic experimentation, and controlled only by being understood. He contained the notion of cataloguing all useful knowledge.
His important contribution to science philosophy and in particular, the problem of induction, was by being the first to emphasize the importance of negative situations.
Works by Francis Bacon
- Novum Organum or Novum Organon, 1620, contains Bacon's views in the correct methods of investigating nature.
- On the Dignity and Advancement of Learning, 1623, Bacon divides knowledge to three categories: history, poetry or literature, and philosophy.
- The New
Atlantis, 1627, describes the revolutionary
idea of a scientific research centre where researchers collect data and
perform actual experiements, eventually applying their knowledge to
produce useful things for humankind.
Photo Credit:
Francis Bacon. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain.
Resources:
McGovern, Una, Ed. Biographical Dictionary, 7th Ed. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap, 2002
Stokes, Philip. Philosophy, the Great Thinkers. London: Capella, 2007
Bullock, Alan and R.B. Woodings, Ed. Dictionary of Modern Thinkers. London: Fontana, 1983
(c) January 2010. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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