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Essays and The New Atlantis
Classics Club edition
302 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1905
11 people are currently reading
173 people want to read
About the author
Francis Bacon
2,510 books915 followersNot to confuse with collateral descendant and artist Francis Bacon
English philosopher, essayist, courtier, jurist, and statesman Francis Bacon, first viscount Saint Albans, in writings, which include The Advancement of Learning (1605) and the Novum Organum (1620), proposed a theory of scientific knowledge, based on observation and experiment, which people came as the inductive method.
A Baconian follows the doctrines of the philosopher Francis Bacon or believes in the theory of, relating to, or characteristic of his works or thought that he authored the plays, attributed to William Shakespeare.
This Queen's Counsel, an orator, authored. He served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. After his death, his works extremely influenced especially as advocate and practitioner during the revolution.
People called Bacon the creator of empiricism. His works established and popularized simple Baconian inquiry, often called. His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all natural things marked a new turn in much of the rhetorical framework, which still surrounds proper conceptions today.
Bacon received a knighthood in 1603, and people created him baron Verulam in 1618 and promoted him in 1621.
Ideas of Bacon in the 1630s and 1650s influenced scholars; Sir Thomas Browne in his Encyclopaedia Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646–72) frequently adheres to an approach to his inquiries. During the Restoration, the royal society founded under Charles II in 1660, commonly invoked Bacon as a guiding spirit.
During the 18th-century Enlightenment of France, criticism of the ancien regime associated more influential non-metaphysical approach of Bacon than the dualism of his French contemporary René Descartes. In 1733, Voltaire "introduced him as the ''father," a widespread understanding before 1750, to a French audience.
In the 19th century, William Whewell revived and developed his emphasis. People reputed him as the "father."
Because Bacon introduced the influence behind the dawning of the Industrial age in England, people also consider him. In works, Bacon,
meaning he expected that through the understanding of use of mechanics, society creates more inventions that to an extent solves the problems. This idea, found in medieval ages, changed the course in history to inventive that eventually led to the mechanical inventions that made possible the Industrial Revolutions of the following centuries.
He also a long treatise on Medicine, History of Life and Death , with the natural prolongation.
For the historian William Hepworth Dixon of biographers, so great influence of Bacon in modern world proceeds to owe to 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
Francis Bacon's left the vast and varied that dispaly and that divided in three great branches:
Works present his ideas for an universal reform into the use of the improvement.
In literary works, he presents his morals.
Works reform in law.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with thi
English philosopher, essayist, courtier, jurist, and statesman Francis Bacon, first viscount Saint Albans, in writings, which include The Advancement of Learning (1605) and the Novum Organum (1620), proposed a theory of scientific knowledge, based on observation and experiment, which people came as the inductive method.
A Baconian follows the doctrines of the philosopher Francis Bacon or believes in the theory of, relating to, or characteristic of his works or thought that he authored the plays, attributed to William Shakespeare.
This Queen's Counsel, an orator, authored. He served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. After his death, his works extremely influenced especially as advocate and practitioner during the revolution.
People called Bacon the creator of empiricism. His works established and popularized simple Baconian inquiry, often called. His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all natural things marked a new turn in much of the rhetorical framework, which still surrounds proper conceptions today.
Bacon received a knighthood in 1603, and people created him baron Verulam in 1618 and promoted him in 1621.
Ideas of Bacon in the 1630s and 1650s influenced scholars; Sir Thomas Browne in his Encyclopaedia Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646–72) frequently adheres to an approach to his inquiries. During the Restoration, the royal society founded under Charles II in 1660, commonly invoked Bacon as a guiding spirit.
During the 18th-century Enlightenment of France, criticism of the ancien regime associated more influential non-metaphysical approach of Bacon than the dualism of his French contemporary René Descartes. In 1733, Voltaire "introduced him as the ''father," a widespread understanding before 1750, to a French audience.
In the 19th century, William Whewell revived and developed his emphasis. People reputed him as the "father."
Because Bacon introduced the influence behind the dawning of the Industrial age in England, people also consider him. In works, Bacon,
"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 expected that through the understanding of use of mechanics, society creates more inventions that to an extent solves the problems. This idea, found in medieval ages, changed the course in history to inventive that eventually led to the mechanical inventions that made possible the Industrial Revolutions of the following centuries.
He also a long treatise on Medicine, History of Life and Death , with the natural prolongation.
For the historian William Hepworth Dixon of biographers, so great influence of Bacon in modern world proceeds to owe to 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
Francis Bacon's left the vast and varied that dispaly and that divided in three great branches:
Works present his ideas for an universal reform into the use of the improvement.
In literary works, he presents his morals.
Works reform in law.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with thi
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 13, 2018
This would be chock full of good advice if I were an old-timey English lord.
July 19, 2014
Having recently read a biography of Francis Bacon I was interested to read this book.
I was reminded of the style of Montagne as I read the Essays. Some were interesting to provide insight into life in the coterie of a monarch, but others were uninteresting to me. Perhaps to a botanist or a landscape architect they might have had value, but they were more demonstrative of Bacon's knowledge of plants (and another of architecture) than instructive to me of life in England in Bacon's time.
I read The New Atlantis a couple weeks after a quick trip to Hawaii, which made the story more interesting. But again I was disappointed. Perhaps I'm obtuse and missed the allegorical significance (if there was one I missed it) but as a story, except as a very early example of one, it left much to be desired. As a utopian romance (as it is described in the Introduction to this edition) it is simple and illustrative not as much of the state of affairs in 1600s England but of the state of English composition at that time.
All that being said, the essays on life and character were worth reading, on various other subjects instructive, and the best part was the breadth of subject matter and the shortness of most essays. It made it easy to keep going rather than get bogged down in the subject of something beyond one's ken.
This being a recent (20th century) compilation and editing it has translated the Latin phrases (that Bacon used in abundance) into English but kept the Latin in footnotes for those, like me, who at least like seeing them. Other words, some of which Bacon coined or for whom the meaning has changed since 1600, are also explained in the footnotes. I like the edition.
I was reminded of the style of Montagne as I read the Essays. Some were interesting to provide insight into life in the coterie of a monarch, but others were uninteresting to me. Perhaps to a botanist or a landscape architect they might have had value, but they were more demonstrative of Bacon's knowledge of plants (and another of architecture) than instructive to me of life in England in Bacon's time.
I read The New Atlantis a couple weeks after a quick trip to Hawaii, which made the story more interesting. But again I was disappointed. Perhaps I'm obtuse and missed the allegorical significance (if there was one I missed it) but as a story, except as a very early example of one, it left much to be desired. As a utopian romance (as it is described in the Introduction to this edition) it is simple and illustrative not as much of the state of affairs in 1600s England but of the state of English composition at that time.
All that being said, the essays on life and character were worth reading, on various other subjects instructive, and the best part was the breadth of subject matter and the shortness of most essays. It made it easy to keep going rather than get bogged down in the subject of something beyond one's ken.
This being a recent (20th century) compilation and editing it has translated the Latin phrases (that Bacon used in abundance) into English but kept the Latin in footnotes for those, like me, who at least like seeing them. Other words, some of which Bacon coined or for whom the meaning has changed since 1600, are also explained in the footnotes. I like the edition.
June 13, 2014
A genius. Worth the read.
February 25, 2022
His vision of the New Atlantis is entertaining.. an unfinished book on a utopian society with great morals, built around scientific progress and development. I can see why this was inspiring to Bacon.
The essays are interesting, but they’re rather hard to read. Still, intriguing perspectives from an intriguing guy.
Surely every medicine is an innovation, and he that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils, for time is the greatest innovator -Francis Bacon
The principal fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge of the fullness and swellings of the heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and induce -Francis Bacon
The essays are interesting, but they’re rather hard to read. Still, intriguing perspectives from an intriguing guy.
Surely every medicine is an innovation, and he that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils, for time is the greatest innovator -Francis Bacon
The principal fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge of the fullness and swellings of the heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and induce -Francis Bacon
January 22, 2022
Francis Bacon was torrent of wisdom and insight. It is almost too much to bear.
March 17, 2013
Don't bother. How these musings have survived four hundred years is beyond me.
December 31, 2023
A short series of essays on various subjects, rather dull reading.
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March 10, 2019This can be a challenging read given the writing style of the time. Bacon was a genius for his time and the number of classical historical references woven in can add to the challenge. To do the Essays justice, will need to reread them.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews