Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Biography:

• Born at York House in the Strand on January 22, 1561. 

• The son of Nicolas Bacon, the Lord Keeper of the Seal of Elisabeth I.
• He entered Trinity College, Cambridge at age 12. Bacon later described his tutors as "Men of sharp wits, shut up in their cells of a few author, chiefly Aristotle, their Dictator." This is likely the beginning of Bacon's rejection of "Aristotelianism" Scholasticism and the new Renaissance Humanism.
• His father died when he was 18 , being the youngest son, leaving him virtually penniless.
• He turned to the law and at 23 he was already in the House of Commons. His rich relatives did little to advance his career and Elisabeth apparently distrusted him. One of his fellow members of Parliament once called him a "thoroughly dishonest man." It was not until James I became King that Bacon's career advanced. He rose to become Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans and Lord Chancellor of England. His fall came about in the course of a struggle between King Parliament. He was accused of having taken a bribe while a judge, tried and found guilty. He thus lost his personal honor, his fortune and his place at court.

Bacon Philosophy

The Advancement of Learning

• Bacon judged that intellectual life in Europe had reached a stand-still, caused by an "undue reverence" for the past
• Bacon beleived that there was only one way around this standstill and that was the process of the people learning to "open their minds to the world around them."
• This is the basic argument of his literery work The Proficience and Advancement of Learning, which depicted how he would have the world further its educational boundaries, which is quite possibly the most important philisophical work ever published in english.
• Bacon notioned that there were clear "obstacles" or "diseases" of learning that must be avoided before further progress was available.  
• Once these "obstacles" were breached, however, one could learn anything and would benefit mankind greatly if one could break through all of the natural obstacles.

The "Distempers" of Learning

• Bacon refers to the so-called "vanities of learning" as the three "distempers" of learning. The distempers are fantastical learning, contentious learning, and delicate learning.
• In fantastical learning, Bacon referred to what we now know as pseudo-science, or false science, which is a collection of ideas that lack substantial fact and are carefully shielded from criticism.
• In contentious learning Bacon speaks mainly of Aristotelian philosophy and theology. Saying that the Scholastic tradition of constantly contradicting itself was nothing more than an endless debate.
• In his philosophy of delicate learning, Bacon states that mankind is flawed in the way that we are more concerned with rhetorical embellishments than with actual ancient texts and the ways in which they can help us.
• Bacon's claim in regards to these "distempers" was that they halted the quest for real intelligence and caused this knowledge to be used with selfish implications. 
• Bacon believed that if one could surpass these "distempers," they would be able to attain almost all worldly knowledge.

The Reclassification of Knowledge

• Bacon outlined a new division of human intelligence into three catigories: History, Poesy (namely art) and Philosophy.
• Bacon's new outline effectivly showed philosophy of more importance than the other two categories with the reasons being namely that history is the mere accumulation of facts and art being what he called a "feighned history".
• It is clear that Bacon believed that, in order for humanity to truly advance, the statis of philosophy needed to be elevated. Bacon did this simply by claiming that history itself was an educational subset of philosophy and that poesy was, in itself, an illistrative vehical.

Science, God, and Utopian Philosophy

• Bacon's belief system stated that God's infinite knowledge was grouped into two classifications: natural philosophy and technological philosophy.
• Bacon was said to be "[The only man who could] converse with this universe first hand."
• Bacon felt that according to a Utopian standard, we must all follow in the Maker's footsteps and move continuously forward with science in order to create the Utopian society.
• Also sharing in Bacon's beliefs were the people who followed the prophecy of Daniel 12:4 which states the only ways to survive the hardships of the fall were to move forward into scienta nova (new sciences) and the new millenium.
• Bacon firmly believed that God approved of our scientific ventures because he believed that knowledge is divine and the technology that God helped to create was helping to erase human hardship.

Writings:

• The History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh
• The History of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth 
• De Augmentis Scientiarum
• The final 1625 edition of his Essayes, or Counsels
• A Natural History in Ten Centuries
• A utopian science-fiction novel, The New Atlantis

The intellect of Bacon was one of the most powerful and searching ever possessed by man, and his developments of the inductive philosophy revolutionized the future thought of the human race.

Some of his famous quotes..

-No pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage-ground of truth.

     Of Truth.

-Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as the natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.

     Of Death.

-Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men's nurses.

     Of Marriage and Single Life.

-There be therefore chiefly three vanities in studies, whereby learning hath been most traduced.

     The Proficience and Advancement of Learning

-In taking revenge, a man is even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior. 

Sources:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/francis-bacon/

www.iep.utm.edu/b/bacon

http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/bacon/bio.php

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/bacon.html

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Sir_Francis_Bacon

http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Philosophy/Bacon.htm#Man 

Views on Euthanasia

Sir Francis Bacon would not be in favor of euthanasia. Bacon always thought that knowledge was the most important thing and with the ending of a human life, knowledge would be lost and would never be recovered. Bacon's strong opinions said that human life was valuable because any one person could strive for the scientific knowledge that would ultimately lead to a perfect Utopian society.

Platonian Justice

In regards to Plato's veiws on justice it is my belief that Sir Francis Bacon would whole-heartedly agree with Plato. Sir Bacon held educaation in the highest regard, this is because he believed that the more educated the people are, the more peaceful a society we would have. His ultimate goal in life was to see the creation of a utopian society. A society that worked for the good of the people. Plato's system of justice would have created this utopian society. With everyone working toward the common good people would benefit. Sir Francis Bacon and Plato go hand in hand when it comes to this topic.