F. Bacon "New Organon". Francis Bacon

English philosopher, statesman. Lord, Baron of Verulam, Viscount of St. Albans. Francis Bacon was born on January 22, 1561 in London. At the age of 12 he entered Cambridge University, and at the age of 23 he was already a member of the House of Commons of the English Parliament, where he opposed Queen Elizabeth I on a number of issues. In 1584 Francis Bacon was elected to Parliament. The political rise began in 1603, when King James I came to the throne. In 1612, Bacon became Attorney General, in 1617, Lord Privy Seal, and in 1618 (until 1621) Lord Chancellor under King James I. In 1621 Francis Bacon was put on trial on charges of bribery, removed from all positions and, by order of James I, imprisoned for two days. He was pardoned by the king, but did not return to public service.

“The years of Bacon's Lord Chancellorship were marked by executions, the distribution of harmful monopolies, illegal arrests, and the imposition of unfavorable sentences. Bacon returned from prison to his estate as a frail old man. As soon as he arrived home, he completely immersed himself in the study of natural sciences. His studies, usually devoted to subjects of essential usefulness, again and again took him from his office to the fields, gardens and stables of the estate. He spent hours talking with the gardener about how to improve the fruit trees, or instructing the maids on how to measure the milk yield of each cow. At the end of 1625, my lord fell ill and lay dying. He was ill all autumn, and in the winter, not yet fully recovered, he rode in an open sleigh several miles to a neighboring estate. When they were returning back, at the turn at the entrance to the estate they ran over a chicken, apparently running out of the chicken coop. Having got out from under his blankets and furs, my lord climbed out of the sleigh and, despite what the coachman told him about the cold, went to where the chicken lay. She was dead. The old man ordered the stable boy to lift the chicken and gut it. The boy did as he was ordered, and the old man, apparently forgetting both his illness and the cold, bent down and, groaning, picked up a handful of snow. He carefully began to stuff the bird's carcass with snow. “This way it should stay fresh for many weeks,” said the old man with enthusiasm. - “Take it to the cellar and put it on the cold floor.” He walked the short distance to the door, already a little tired and leaning heavily on a boy who was carrying a chicken stuffed with snow under his arm. As soon as he entered the house, he was overcome with chills. The next day he fell ill and tossed about in extreme heat.” (Bertolt Brecht, “Experience”) Francis Bacon died on April 9, 1626 in the town of Highgate.

Francis Bacon is considered the founder of English materialism, an empirical movement. He saw the most important task of science in the conquest of nature and the expedient transformation of culture on the basis of knowledge of nature. Among the works of Francis Bacon are “Experiments, or Moral and Political Instructions” (1597; essays on various topics from moral and everyday to political), “The Spread of Education” (“On the Dignity and Augmentation of the Sciences”; De dignitate et augmentis scientiarum; 1605; a treatise calling for experiments and observations to be the basis of education), “New Organon” (Novum organum scientiarum; 1620; part of the unfinished work “The Great Restoration of the Sciences”), “New Atlantis” (Nova Atlatis; utopian story; work not finished; project presented state organization of science).

Bibliography

Encyclopedic resource rubricon.com (Great Soviet Encyclopedia, World Biographical Encyclopedic Dictionary, Philosophical Dictionary, Encyclopedic Dictionary "World History")

Bertolt Brecht, "Experience".

Project "Russia Congratulates!"

Francis Bacon is an English philosopher, the progenitor of empiricism, materialism and the founder of theoretical mechanics. Born January 22, 1561 in London. Graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge University. He occupied quite high positions under King James I.

Bacon's philosophy took shape during the general cultural rise of capitalistically developing European countries and the alienation of scholastic ideas of church dogma.

Problems of the relationship between man and nature occupy a central place in the entire philosophy of Francis Bacon. In his work “New Organon” Bacon tries to present the correct method of knowledge of nature, giving preference to the inductive method of knowledge, which is trivially called “Bacon’s method”. This method is based on the transition from particular to general provisions, on experimental testing of hypotheses.

Science occupies a strong position in Bacon’s entire philosophy; his winged aphorism “Knowledge is power” is widely known. The philosopher tried to connect the differentiated parts of science into a single system for a holistic reflection of the picture of the world. Francis Bacon's scientific knowledge is based on the hypothesis that God, having created man in his own image and likeness, endowed him with a mind for research and knowledge of the Universe. It is the mind that is capable of providing a person with well-being and gaining power over nature.

But on the path of man’s knowledge of the Universe, mistakes are made, which Bacon called idols or ghosts, systematizing them into four groups:

1. idols of the cave - in addition to the mistakes that are common to all, there are purely individual ones associated with the narrowness of people’s knowledge; they can be either innate or acquired.
2. idols of theater or theories - a person’s acquisition of false ideas about reality from other people
3. idols of the square or market - exposure to common misconceptions that are generated by verbal communication and, in general, by the social nature of man.
4. idols of the clan - are born, hereditarily transmitted by human nature, do not depend on the culture and individuality of a person.

Bacon considers all idols to be just attitudes of human consciousness and traditions of thinking that may turn out to be false. The sooner a person can clear his consciousness of idols that interfere with an adequate perception of the picture of the world and its knowledge, the sooner he will be able to master the knowledge of nature.

The main category in Bacon's philosophy is experience, which gives food to the mind and determines the reliability of specific knowledge. To get to the bottom of the truth, you need to accumulate enough experience, and in testing hypotheses, experience is the best evidence.

Bacon is rightfully considered the founder of English materialism; for him, matter, being, nature, and the objective are primary as opposed to idealism.

Bacon introduced the concept of the dual soul of man, noting that physically man definitely belongs to science, but he considers the soul of man, introducing the categories of the rational soul and the sensory soul. Bacon's rational soul is the subject of theology, and the sensible soul is studied by philosophy.

Francis Bacon made a huge contribution to the development of English and pan-European philosophy, to the emergence of a completely new European thinking, and was the founder of the inductive method of cognition and materialism.

Among the most significant followers of Bacon: T. Hobbes, D. Locke, D. Diderot, J. Bayer.

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Who is he: a philosopher or a scientist? Francis Bacon is a great thinker of the Renaissance of England. who has held many positions, seen several countries and expressed hundreds of ideas that guide people to this day. Bacon's desire for knowledge and oratorical abilities from an early age played a major role in the reformation of philosophy of that time. In particular, scholasticism and the teachings of Aristotle, which were based on cultural and spiritual values, were refuted by the empiricist Francis in the name of science. Bacon argued that only scientific and technological progress can raise civilization and thereby enrich humanity spiritually.

Francis Bacon - biography of politician

Bacon was born in London on January 22, 1561, into an organized English family. His father served at the court of Elizabeth I as Keeper of the Royal Seal. And the mother was the daughter of Anthony Cook, who raised the king. An educated woman who knew ancient Greek and Latin instilled in young Francis a love of knowledge. He grew up as a smart and intelligent boy with a great interest in science.

At the age of 12, Bacon entered Cambridge University. After graduation, the philosopher travels a lot. The political, cultural and social life of France, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Germany and Sweden left their imprint in the notes “On the State of Europe” written by the thinker. After the death of his father, Bacon returned to his homeland.

Francis made his political career when King James I ascended the English throne. The philosopher was both attorney general (1612), keeper of the seal (1617), and lord chancellor (1618). However, the rapid rise ended in a rapid fall.

Following the path of life

In 1621, Bacon was accused by the king of bribery, imprisoned (albeit for two days) and pardoned. Following this, Francis's career as a politician ended. All subsequent years of his life he was engaged in science and experiments. The philosopher died in 1626 from a cold.

• "Experiments and Instructions" - 1597 - first edition. Subsequently, the book was supplemented and reprinted many times. The work consists of short sketches and essays where the thinker discusses politics and morality.
• "On the meaning and success of knowledge, divine and human" - 1605
• "On the Wisdom of the Ancients" - 1609
• Descriptions of the world's intellectuals.
• “About a high position”, in which the author talked about the advantages and disadvantages of high ranks. “It is difficult to stand in a high place, but there is no way back except fall, or at least sunset...”
• "New Organon" - 1620 - a cult book of that time, dedicated to its methods and techniques.
• “On the Dignity and Increase of the Sciences” is the first part of the “Great Restoration of the Sciences,” Bacon’s most voluminous work.

A ghostly utopia or a look into the future?

Francis Bacon. "New Atlantis". Two terms in philosophy that can be considered synonymous. Although the work remained unfinished, it absorbed the entire worldview of its author.

The New Atlantis was published in 1627. Bacon takes the reader to a distant island where an ideal civilization flourishes. All thanks to scientific and technological achievements, unprecedented at that time. Bacon seemed to look hundreds of years into the future, because in Atlantis you can learn about the microscope, the synthesis of living beings, and also about the cure for all diseases. In addition, it contains descriptions of various, not yet discovered, sound and auditory devices.

The island is governed by a society that unites the main sages of the country. And if Bacon’s predecessors touched on the problems of communism and socialism, then this work is completely technocratic in nature.

A look at life through the eyes of a philosopher

Francis Bacon is truly the founder of thinking. The thinker's philosophy refutes scholastic teachings and puts science and knowledge in first place. Having learned the laws of nature and turning them to his own benefit, a person is able not only to gain power, but also to grow spiritually.

Francis noted that all discoveries were made by accident, because few people knew scientific methods and techniques. Bacon was the first to try to classify science based on the properties of the mind: memory is history, imagination is poetry, reason is philosophy.

The main thing on the path to knowledge should be experience. Any research must begin with observations, not theory. Bacon believes that only an experiment for which conditions, time and space, as well as circumstances, constantly change will be successful. Matter must be in motion all the time.

Francis Bacon. Empiricism

The scientist himself and his philosophy ultimately led to the emergence of such a concept as “empiricism”: knowledge lies through experience. Only with enough knowledge and experience can you count on results in your activities.

Bacon identifies several ways to obtain knowledge:

• “The Way of the Spider” - knowledge is obtained from pure reason, in a rational way. In other words, a web is woven from thoughts. Specific factors are not taken into account.
• "The Way of the Ant" - knowledge is gained through experience. Attention is focused only on collecting facts and evidence. However, the essence remains unclear.
• “The way of the bee” is an ideal method that combines the good qualities of both the spider and the ant, but at the same time is devoid of their shortcomings. Following this path, all facts and evidence must be passed through the prism of your thinking, through your mind. And only then will the truth be revealed.

Obstacles on the path to knowledge

It's not always easy to learn new things. Bacon in his teachings speaks of ghost obstacles. They are the ones who prevent you from adjusting your mind and thoughts. There are congenital and acquired obstacles.

Innate: “ghosts of the clan” and “ghosts of the cave” - this is how the philosopher himself classifies them. “Ghosts of the race” - human culture interferes with knowledge. “Ghosts of the Cave” - knowledge is hampered by the influence of specific people.

Acquired: “market ghosts” and “theater ghosts”. The first involves the incorrect use of words and definitions. A person perceives everything literally, and this interferes with correct thinking. The second obstacle is the influence on the process of cognition of existing philosophy. Only by renouncing the old can one comprehend the new. Relying on old experience, passing it through their thoughts, people are able to achieve success.

Great minds don't die

Some great people - centuries later - give birth to others. Francis Bacon is an expressionist artist of our time, as well as a distant descendant of the philosopher-thinker.

Francis the artist revered the works of his ancestor; he in every possible way followed his instructions left in “smart” books. Francis Bacon, whose biography ended not so long ago, in 1992, had a great influence on the world. And when the philosopher did this with words, his distant grandson did it with paints.

Francis Jr. was expelled from home for his gayness. Wandering around France and Germany, he successfully got to the exhibition in 1927. She had a huge influence on the guy. Bacon returns to his native London, where he acquires a small garage-workshop and begins to create.

Francis Bacon is considered one of the darkest artists of our time. His paintings are clear proof of this. Blurred, despairing faces and silhouettes are depressing, but at the same time make you think about the meaning of life. After all, every person has hidden such blurry faces and roles that he uses for different occasions.

Despite their gloominess, the paintings are very popular. A great connoisseur of Bacon's art is Roman Abramovich. At an auction, he purchased the painting “Landmark of the Canonical 20th Century” worth $86.3 million!

In the words of a thinker

Philosophy is the eternal science of eternal values. Everyone who is able to think a little is a “little” philosopher. Bacon wrote down his thoughts always and everywhere. And people use many of his quotes every day. Bacon surpassed even the greatness of Shakespeare. This is what his contemporaries thought.

Francis Bacon. Quotes to note:

• He who hobbles along a straight road will outpace a runner who has lost his way.
• There is little friendship in the world - and least of all among equals.
• There is nothing worse than fear itself.
• The worst loneliness is not having true friends.
• Stealth is the refuge of the weak.
• In the dark, all colors are the same.
• Nadezhda is a good breakfast, but a bad dinner.
• Good is what is useful to man, to humanity.

Knowledge is power

Power is knowledge. Only by abstracting from everyone and everything, passing your experience and the experience of your predecessors through your own mind, can you comprehend the truth. It is not enough to be a theorist, you need to become a practitioner! There is no need to be afraid of criticism and condemnation. And who knows, maybe the biggest discovery is yours!

Introduction

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is rightfully considered the founder of modern philosophy. He came from a noble family that occupied a prominent place in English political life (his father was Lord Privy Seal). Graduated from Cambridge University. The learning process, marked by a scholastic approach that consisted of reading and analyzing primarily the authorities of the past, did not satisfy Bacon.

This training did not give anything new, and in particular, in the knowledge of nature. Already at that time, he came to the conviction that new knowledge about nature must be obtained by studying, first of all, nature itself.

He was a diplomat as part of the British mission in Paris. After his father's death he returned to London, became a lawyer, and was a member of the House of Commons. He makes a brilliant career at the court of King James I.

Since 1619, F. Bacon became Lord Chancellor of England. After James I was forced to return Parliament due to non-payment of taxes by the residents of the country, members of Parliament took “revenge”, in particular, Bacon was accused of bribery and in 1621 was removed from political activities. Lord Bacon's political career was over; he retired from his previous affairs and devoted himself to scientific work until his death.

One group of Bacon's works consists of works related to the formation of science and scientific knowledge.

These are, first of all, treatises related in one way or another to his project of the “Great Restoration of the Sciences” (due to lack of time or other reasons, this project was not completed).

This project was created by 1620, but only its second part, dedicated to the new inductive method, was fully implemented, which was written and published under the title “New Organon” also in 1620. In 1623, his work “On dignity and enhancement of sciences."

1. F. Bacon - founder of experimental science and philosophy of modern times

F. Bacon takes inventory of all areas of consciousness and activity.

The general tendency of Bacon's philosophical thinking is unambiguously materialist. However, Bacon's materialism is limited historically and epistemologically.

The development of modern science (and the natural and exact sciences) was only in its infancy and was completely influenced by the Renaissance concept of man and the human mind. Therefore, Bacon’s materialism is devoid of deep structure and is in many ways more of a declaration.

Bacon's philosophy is based on the objective needs of society and expresses the interests of progressive social forces of that time. His emphasis on empirical research and knowledge of nature logically follows from the practice of the then progressive social classes, in particular the emerging bourgeoisie.

Bacon rejects philosophy as contemplation and presents it as a science about the real world, based on experimental knowledge. This is confirmed by the title of one of his studies - “Natural and experimental description of the foundation of philosophy.”

By his position, he, in fact, expresses a new starting point and a new basis for all knowledge.

Bacon paid special attention to the problems of science, knowledge and cognition. He saw the world of science as the main means of solving social problems and contradictions of the society of that time.

Bacon is a prophet and enthusiast of technological progress. He raises the question of organizing science and putting it at the service of man. This focus on the practical significance of knowledge brings him closer to the philosophers of the Renaissance (as opposed to the scholastics). And science is judged by its results. “Fruits are the guarantor and witness of the truth of philosophy.”

Bacon characterizes the meaning, calling and tasks of science very clearly in the introduction to the “Great Restoration of the Sciences”: “And finally, I would like to call on all people to remember the true goals of science, so that they do not engage in it for the sake of their spirit, not for the sake of some learned disputes, nor for the sake of neglecting others, nor for the sake of self-interest and glory, nor in order to achieve power, nor for some other low intentions, but so that life itself would benefit and succeed from it.” Both its direction and working methods are subject to this calling of science.

He highly appreciates the merits of ancient culture, but at the same time he realizes how superior they are to the achievements of modern science. As much as he values ​​antiquity, he values ​​scholasticism just as low. He rejects speculative scholastic disputes and focuses on knowledge of the real, really existing world.

The main tools of this knowledge are, according to Bacon, feelings, experience, experiment and what follows from them.

Natural science according to Bacon is the great mother of all sciences. She was undeservedly humiliated to the position of a servant. The task is to return independence and dignity to the sciences. “Philosophy must enter into a legal marriage with science, and only then will it be able to bear children.”

A new cognitive situation has emerged. It is characterized by the following: “The pile of experiments has grown to infinity.” Bacon poses the following problems:

a) deep transformation of the body of accumulated knowledge, its rational organization and streamlining;

b) development of methods for obtaining new knowledge.

He implements the first in his work “On the Dignity and Augmentation of Sciences” - the classification of knowledge. The second is in the New Organon.

The task of organizing knowledge. Bacon bases the classification of knowledge on three human powers of discrimination: memory, imagination, and reason. These abilities correspond to areas of activity - history, poetry, philosophy and science. The results of abilities correspond to objects (except for poetry, imagination cannot have an object, and she is its product). The object of history is single events. Natural history deals with events in nature, while civil history deals with events in society.

According to Bacon, philosophy deals not with individuals and not with sensory impressions of objects, but with abstract concepts derived from them, the connection and separation of which on the basis of the laws of nature and the facts of reality itself it deals with. Philosophy belongs to the realm of reason and essentially includes the content of all theoretical science.

The objects of philosophy are God, nature and man. Accordingly, it is divided into natural theology, natural philosophy and the doctrine of man.

Philosophy is knowledge of the general. He considers the problem of God as an object of knowledge within the framework of the concept of two truths. The Holy Scriptures contain moral standards. Theology, which studies God, has a heavenly origin, in contrast to philosophy, whose object is nature and man. Natural religion can have nature as its object. Within the framework of natural theology (God is the object of attention), philosophy can play a certain role.

In addition to divine philosophy, there is natural philosophy (natural). She breaks down into theoretical(exploring the cause of things and relying on “luminous” experiences) and practical philosophy (which carries out “fruitful” experiments and creates artificial things).

Theoretical philosophy breaks down into physics and metaphysics. The basis of this division is the doctrine of Aristotle’s 4 causes. Bacon believes that physics is the study of material and moving causes. Metaphysics studies formal cause. But there is no target cause in nature, only in human activity. The deep essence consists of forms, their study is a matter of metaphysics.

Practical philosophy is divided into mechanics (research in physics) and natural philosophy (it is based on the knowledge of forms). The product of natural magic is, for example, what is depicted in “New Atlantis” - “spare” organs for humans, etc. In modern language, we are talking about high technologies – High Tech.

He considered mathematics to be a great application to natural philosophy, both theoretical and practical.

Strictly speaking, mathematics even forms a part of metaphysics, for quantity, which is its subject, applied to matter, is a kind of measure of nature and a condition for the multitude of natural phenomena, and therefore one of its essential forms.

Truly, knowledge about nature is the main all-absorbing subject of Bacon’s attention, and no matter what philosophical questions he touched on, the study of nature, natural philosophy, remained the true science for him.

Bacon also includes the doctrine of man as philosophy. There is also a division of areas: man as an individual and an object of anthropology, as a citizen - an object of civil philosophy.

Bacon's idea of ​​the soul and its abilities constitute the central content of his philosophy of man.

Francis Bacon distinguished two souls in man - the rational and the sensual. The first is divinely inspired (an object of revealed knowledge), the second is similar to the soul of animals (it is an object of natural scientific research): the first comes from the “spirit of God,” the second comes from a set of material elements and is an organ of the rational soul.

He leaves the entire teaching about the divinely inspired soul - about its substance and nature, whether it is innate or introduced from without - to the competence of religion.

“And although all such questions could receive a deeper and more thorough study in philosophy compared to the state in which they are currently found, nevertheless, we consider it more correct to transfer these questions to the consideration and definition of religion, because otherwise, in most cases they would have received an erroneous decision under the influence of those errors that the data of sensory perceptions can give rise to in philosophers.”

BACON, FRANCIS(Bacon, Francis) (1561–1626), Baron of Verulam, Viscount of St. Albans, English statesman, essayist and philosopher. Born in London on January 22, 1561, he was the youngest son in the family of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge University for two years, then spent three years in France in the retinue of the English ambassador.

After the death of his father in 1579, he was left practically without a livelihood and entered the Gray's Inn school of barristers to study law. In 1582 he became a barrister, and in 1584 a member of parliament and until 1614 he played a prominent role in debates at sessions of the House of Commons. From time to time he composed messages to Queen Elizabeth, in which he sought to take an impartial approach to pressing political issues; Perhaps, if the queen had followed his advice, some conflicts between the crown and parliament could have been avoided. However, his ability as a statesman did not help his career, partly because Lord Burghley saw in Bacon a rival to his son, and partly because he lost Elizabeth's favor by courageously opposing, on principles of principle, the passage of the Bill for Grants of covering expenses incurred in the war with Spain (1593).

Around 1591 he became an adviser to the queen's favorite, the Earl of Essex, who offered him a generous reward. However, Bacon made it clear to his patron that he was devoted first of all to his country, and when in 1601 Essex tried to organize a coup, Bacon, as a king's lawyer, took part in his condemnation as a state traitor. Under Elizabeth, Bacon never rose to any high positions, but after James I Stuart ascended the throne in 1603, he quickly advanced in the ranks. In 1607 he took the position of Solicitor General, in 1613 - Attorney General, in 1617 - Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and in 1618 received the post of Lord Chancellor, the highest in the structure of the judiciary. Bacon was knighted in 1603 and created Baron of Verulam in 1618 and Viscount of St. Albans in 1621. In the same year he was accused of accepting bribes. Bacon admitted receiving gifts from people whose cases were being tried in court, but denied that this had any influence on his decision. Bacon was stripped of all his posts and banned from appearing at court. He spent the remaining years before his death in solitude.

Bacon's main literary creation is considered to be Experiments (Essays), on which he worked continuously for 28 years; ten essays were published in 1597, and by 1625 the book had already collected 58 essays, some of which were published in the third edition in revised form ( Experiments, or Moral and Political Instructions, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Morall). Style Experiences laconic and didactic, replete with learned examples and brilliant metaphors. Bacon called his experiments “fragmentary reflections” about ambition, relatives and friends, about love, wealth, about the pursuit of science, about honors and glory, about the vicissitudes of things and other aspects of human life. In them you can find cold calculation, which is not mixed with emotions or impractical idealism, advice for those who are making a career. There are, for example, such aphorisms: “Everyone who rises high passes through the zigzags of a spiral staircase” and “Wife and children are hostages of fate, for the family is an obstacle to the accomplishment of great deeds, both good and evil.” Bacon's treatise About the wisdom of the ancients (De Sapientia Veterum, 1609) is an allegorical interpretation of the hidden truths contained in ancient myths. His History of the reign of Henry VII (History of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, 1622) is distinguished by lively characterizations and clear political analysis.

Despite Bacon's studies in politics and jurisprudence, the main concern of his life was philosophy and science, and he majestically declared: “All knowledge is the province of my care.” He rejected Aristotelian deduction, which at that time occupied a dominant position, as an unsatisfactory way of philosophizing. In his opinion, a new tool of thinking, a “new organon”, should be proposed, with the help of which it would be possible to restore human knowledge on a more reliable basis. A general outline of the “great plan for the restoration of the sciences” was made by Bacon in 1620 in the preface to the work New Organon, or True Indications for the Interpretation of Nature (Novum Organum). This work consisted of six parts: a general overview of the current state of the sciences, a description of a new method of obtaining true knowledge, a body of empirical data, a discussion of issues subject to further research, preliminary solutions, and, finally, philosophy itself. Bacon managed to make only sketches of the first two parts. The first one was named About the benefits and success of knowledge (Of the Proficiency and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Humane, 1605), the Latin version of which, On the dignity and enhancement of sciences (De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum, 1623), published with corrections and many additions. According to Bacon, there are four kinds of “idols” that besiege the minds of people. The first type is idols of the race (mistakes that a person makes by virtue of his very nature). The second type is cave idols (mistakes due to prejudice). The third type is the idols of the square (errors caused by inaccuracies in the use of language). The fourth type is theater idols (mistakes made as a result of the adoption of various philosophical systems). Describing the current prejudices that hinder the development of science, Bacon proposed a tripartite division of knowledge, made according to mental functions, and attributed history to memory, poetry to imagination, and philosophy (in which he included the sciences) to reason. He also gave an overview of the limits and nature of human knowledge in each of these categories and pointed out important areas of research that had hitherto been neglected. In the second part of the book, Bacon described the principles of the inductive method, with the help of which he proposed to overthrow all the idols of reason.

In an unfinished story New Atlantis (The New Atlantis, written in 1614, publ. in 1627) Bacon describes a utopian community of scientists engaged in the collection and analysis of data of all kinds according to the scheme of the third part of the great plan of restoration. New Atlantis is an excellent social and cultural system that exists on the island of Bensalem, lost somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The religion of the Atlanteans is Christianity, miraculously revealed to the inhabitants of the island; the unit of society is the highly respected family; The type of government is essentially a monarchy. The main institution of the state is Solomon's House, the College of the Six Days of Creation, a research center from which emanate scientific discoveries and inventions that ensure the happiness and prosperity of the citizens. It is sometimes believed that it was Solomon's house that served as the prototype of the Royal Society of London, established during the reign of Charles II in 1662.

Bacon's struggle against authorities and the method of "logical distinctions", the promotion of a new method of knowledge and the conviction that research should begin with observations, and not with theories, put him on a par with the most important representatives of scientific thought of the Modern Age. However, he did not obtain any significant results - neither in empirical research nor in the field of theory, and his method of inductive knowledge through exceptions, which, as he believed, would produce new knowledge “like a machine”, did not receive recognition in experimental science .

In March 1626, deciding to test the extent to which cold slowed down the process of decay, he experimented with a chicken, stuffing it with snow, but caught a cold in the process. Bacon died at Highgate near London on April 9, 1626.