Francis Bacon - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Overview

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

(22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman

Statesman

A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...

, scientist, lawyer, jurist

Jurist

A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...

, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General

Attorney General for England and Wales

Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...

and Lord Chancellor

Lord Chancellor

The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

of England. Although his political career ended in disgrace, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method

Scientific method

Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of...

during the scientific revolution

Scientific revolution

The Scientific Revolution is an era associated primarily with the 16th and 17th centuries during which new ideas and knowledge in physics, astronomy, biology, medicine and chemistry transformed medieval and ancient views of nature and laid the foundations for modern science...

.

Bacon has been called the father of empiricism

Empiricism

Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,...

.

Discussions

What were Bacon's philosophical contributions?

Early life

How and why did his career end in disgrace?

Personal life

Is anyone interested in discussing a new angle on Bacon's use of ciphers? Or is this chestut far too ancient these days? regards

Parliamentarian

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Quotations

The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.

Essex's Device (1595)

Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.

Knowledge is power.

Aristotle... a mere bond-servant to his logic, thereby rendering it contentious and well nigh useless.

Rerum Novarum (1605)

I do plainly and ingenuously confess that I am guilty of corruption, and do renounce all defense. I beseech your Lordships to be merciful to a broken reed.

On being charged by Parliament with corruption in office (1621)

Lucid intervals and happy pauses.

History of King Henry VII, III (1622)

Nil terribile nisi ipse timor.

Nothing is terrible except fear itself.

Riches are a good handmaid, but the worst mistress.

De Augmentis Scientiarum, Book II, Antitheta (1623)

Audacter calumniare, semper aliquid haeret.

Translated: "Hurl your calumnies boldly; something is sure to stick".

I bequeath my soul to God... My body to be buried obscurely. For my name and memory, I leave it to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and the next age.

From his will (1626)

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