Francis Bacon (1560/61-1626)

Pictures

• Francis Bacon

• Queen Elizabeth I

• Europe at the time of Bacon's birth

Outline of Today's Lecture

• Bacon's life

• Bacon's politics

• The nature of man

• The critique of contemporary science
  • Science in the Middle Ages: Aristotle and Scholasticism

  • Bacon's critique

• The new scientific method: Induction

• A blueprint for Enlightenment: the idea of Progress

Important Terms and Concepts

• Syllogism

• Deduction

• Induction

Additional reading available on the Internet

• Text of Bacon's Essays