Francis Bacon (Francis Bacon, 1561-1626) - a famous British materialist philosopher and scientist. He is revered among the giants of the Renaissance as an epoch-making figure in the history of philosophy and science. Marx called him "the true ancestor of British materialism and the entire modern experimental science." The first person to propose that "knowledge is power."

1. Bacon's life

Bacon was born on January 22, 1561, into a family of officials in London. Father Nicholas. Bacon was the Lord Privy Seal of Queen Elizabeth and studied law at Cambridge University. He tended to be progressive in his thinking, believed in the British Crown, and opposed the Pope's interference in the internal affairs of the United Kingdom. Mother Anne is a well-known and talented woman. She is proficient in Greek and Latin and is a believer in Calvinism. A good family education made Bacon mature earlier and showed unusual intelligence in all aspects. At the age of 12, Bacon was sent to Trinity College, Cambridge University for further study. While studying at school, he had doubts about traditional concepts and beliefs, and began to think about the true meaning of society and life alone.

After three years of studying at Cambridge University, Bacon served as the British Ambassador to France, Amyas. Sir Paulet's entourage came to France. During the two and a half years of living in Paris, he traveled almost all over France, came into contact with many new things, and absorbed many new ideas, which played a significant role in the formation of his world view. It has played a big role. In 1579, Bacon's father died suddenly of illness. His plan to prepare for Bacon's future support was shattered, and Bacon's life began to fall into poverty. After returning home to attend his father's funeral, Bacon enrolled in Gray Law School, where he studied law while seeking positions. In 1582, he finally qualified as a lawyer. In 1584, he was elected as a member of Parliament. In 1589, he became the clerk of the court after it became vacant. However, this position did not become vacant for 20 years. He ran around but never got any position. At this time, Bacon was more mature in his thinking. He was determined to reform all knowledge that was divorced from reality and nature, and introduced empirical observation, factual basis, and practical effects into epistemology. This great ambition was the main goal of his "great renaissance" of science and the ambition for which he fought throughout his life.

In 1602, Elizabeth died and James I succeeded to the throne. Because Bacon had advocated the union of Scotland and England, he was greatly appreciated by James. As a result, Bacon's career has skyrocketed. Knighted in 1602, appointed counselor to James in 1604, solicitor general in 1607, chief prosecutor in 1613, advisor to the Privy Council in 1616, promoted to seal in 1617 Chancellor, he was promoted to Continental Officer in England in 1618 and was created Baron Verulan and Viscount Albans in 1621. But Bacon's talents and interests were not in state affairs, but in the search for scientific truth. During this period, he achieved great results in academic research. And published many books.

In 1621, Bacon was accused of corruption and bribery by Parliament. He was sentenced to a fine of 40,000 pounds by the High Court, imprisoned in the Tower of London, expelled from the court for life, and barred from holding parliamentary and official positions. Although the fine and imprisonment were later waived, Bacon's reputation was ruined. From then on, Bacon ignored political affairs and began to concentrate on theoretical writings.

At the end of March 1626, Bacon drove through the northern suburbs of London. At that time, he was concentrating on the study of hot and cold theory and its practical applications. When passing by a snowy field, he suddenly wanted to conduct an experiment. He killed a chicken and stuffed the chicken belly with snow to observe the effect of freezing on preservation. However, due to his weak body and unable to withstand the invasion of wind and cold, the bronchitis recurred and his condition worsened, and he died of illness in the early morning of April 9, 1626.

After Bacon's death, people built a monument in his memory, and Sir Henry Warden inscribed his epitaph:

Viscount St. Albans

If we use a more prestigious title, we should call it "the light of science" and "the tongue of the law"

． Bacon's philosophical thoughts

Bacon's philosophical thoughts are inseparable from his social thoughts. He was a representative of the rising bourgeoisie, advocating the development of production, eager to explore nature, and demanding the development of science. He believed that scholasticism had hindered the development of contemporary science. Therefore, he strongly criticized scholasticism and theological authority. He also further exposed the source of fallacies in human understanding and put forward the famous "Four Illusions". He said that this is a common pathological state in the human heart, rather than confusion and doubt arising from a certain situation. The first is the "false appearance of race", which is a misunderstanding caused by human nature; the second type is the "false appearance of the cave", which is a one-sided misunderstanding caused by an individual's personality, hobbies, education, and environment; The third type is the "illusion of the market", which is confusion in thinking caused by the uncertainty of language concepts when people communicate. The fourth type is "theatre's illusion", which refers to the misunderstanding caused by blind superstition of authority and tradition. Bacon pointed out that the scholastic philosophers used four kinds of illusions to obliterate the truth and create fallacies, thus giving a heavy blow to scholasticism. However, Bacon's "Illusion Theory" permeated the empiricist tendency of Bacon's philosophy and failed to make a strict distinction between the nature of reason and the illusion of idealism.

Bacon believed that the academic tradition at that time was poor because academics had lost contact with experience. He advocated that scientific theory and science and technology complement each other. He advocated breaking "idols" and eradicating all kinds of prejudices and illusions. He proposed that "truth is the daughter of time rather than the daughter of authority" and launched a powerful attack on scholasticism.

Bacon's view of scientific method is mainly based on experimental qualitative and induction. He inherited and developed the ancient idea that matter is the origin of all things. He believed that the world is composed of matter, matter has the characteristic of movement, and movement is an attribute of matter. Starting from a materialist standpoint, Bacon pointed out that the task of science is to understand the natural world and its laws. However, due to the limitations of the times, his worldview still has the characteristics of simple materialism and metaphysics.

3. Bacon's Treatises

In 1597, Bacon published his first work, "Collected Essays on Discourses". In the book, he condensed his understanding and thinking about society and his understanding of life into many philosophical famous sayings, which were welcomed by readers.

In 1605, Bacon completed the two-volume "On the Progress of Learning" in English. This is a work that takes knowledge as its research object. It is part of Bacon's grand ideal and plan to comprehensively reform knowledge with knowledge as its field. In the book, Bacon fiercely attacked the obscurantism of the Middle Ages, demonstrated the great role of knowledge, and suggested the unsatisfactory status quo of knowledge and its remedies. In this book, Bacon proposed an outline for a systematic scientific encyclopedia, which played a major role in later compiling encyclopedias by the French Encyclopedia School headed by Diderot in the 18th century.

In 1609, when Bacon was deputy attorney general, he published a third book, "On the Wisdom of the Ancients." He believes that in ancient times, there existed the oldest wisdom of mankind, and the lost oldest wisdom can be discovered through the study of ancient fables.

Bacon originally planned to write a six-volume encyclopedic work - "The Great Revival", which was his masterpiece to revive science and reshape human knowledge, but he failed To complete the expected plan, only the first two parts were published. "New Instruments" published in 1620 was the second part of the book. "New Instruments" is Bacon's most important philosophical work. It puts forward the principles and methods of empirical knowledge pioneered by Bacon in modern times. This book is the antithesis of Aristotle's Instruments.

After the end of his political career, Bacon completed the book "The Chronicles of Henry VII" in just a few months. This work was highly praised by later historians and was hailed as "the most important work of modern history". A milestone in historiography."

About 1623, Bacon wrote "New Atlantis", an unfinished utopian work first published by Rollet in the second year of his death. In the book, the author describes the ideal social blueprint for his new pursuit and yearning, and designs a country called the "True Color Column". In this country, science dominates everything. This is the "great renaissance" of science advocated by Bacon's graduation. A concentrated expression of thoughts and beliefs.

In addition, Bacon left many works after his death, which were later compiled and published by many experts and scholars, including "On the Nature of Things", "Clues of the Labyrinth", "Philosophies of Various Philosophies" Critique", "Great Events in Nature", "On Human Knowledge", etc.

Four. Bacon's position in the history of science

Francis. Bacon was the first philosopher to propose the principle of empiricism in the history of modern philosophy. He attached great importance to the role of sensory experience and inductive logic in the process of cognition, and created a new era of empirical philosophy that uses experience as a means to study perceptual nature. He played a positive role in promoting the establishment of modern science and contributed to the history of human philosophy and science. All have made significant historical contributions. For this reason, Russell respected Bacon as "the pioneer of logical organization of scientific research procedures."