Page 29 - DENG502_PROSE

Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University Unit 2: Francis Bacon-Of Studies: Introduction

Unit 2: Francis Bacon-Of Studies: Introduction Notes

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
2.1 Biography
2.2 Bacon’s Personal Life
2.3 Philosophy and Works
2.4 Summary
2.5 Key-Words
2.6 Review Questions
2.7 Further Readings

Objectives
After reading this Unit students will be able to:
• Know about Francis Bacon.
• Discuss Bacon’s Life and Works.

Introduction

Francis Bacon was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author. He served both
as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor 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 during the scientific revolution.
Bacon has been called the creator of empiricism. His works established and popularised inductive
methodologies for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method, or simply the scientific
method. His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all things natural marked a new
turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds
conceptions of proper methodology today.
Bacon was knighted in 1603, and created both the Baron Verulam in 1618 and the Viscount
St. Alban in 1621; as he died without heirs, both peerages became extinct upon his death. He
famously died by contracting pneumonia while studying the effects of freezing on the preservation
of meat.
2.1 Biography

Early life

Bacon was born on 22 January 1561 at York House near the Strand in London, the son of Sir
Nicholas Bacon by his second wife Anne (Cooke) Bacon, the daughter of noted humanist Anthony
Cooke. His mother’s sister was married to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, making Burghley
Francis Bacon’s uncle. Biographers believe that Bacon was educated at home in his early years
owing to poor health (which plagued him throughout his life), receiving tuition from John Walsall,
a graduate of Oxford with a strong leaning towards Puritanism. He entered Trinity College,
Cambridge, on 5 April 1573 at the age of twelve, living for three years there together with his older

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 23