Natural Philosophy in Francis Bacon

Abstract

Francis Bacon, who was by nature a reformer, could not content himself with the traditional philosophies and learnings. He intended to reform them and published Instauratio Magna (The Great Instauration) in 1620. Besides this book, his thoughts are clearly stated in many works between 1603 and 1609. Bacon set a great value on Natural Philosophy which had been degraded to the offices of a servant, and appraised her to be the great mother of learnings. For the control and mastery of nature, he advocated using the true induction. Though his inductive method did not bring any discoveries, Bacon's ideas were able to exert much influence upon other thinkers, especially upon French Encyclopedists, through the image of progress.