Francis Bacon

This is the first critical edition since the nineteenth century of Bacon's principal philosophical work in English, The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the proficience and advancement of Learning, divine and humane - traditionally known as The Advancement of Learning.

Bacon's essays reflect the experience and wide reading of a Renaissance man - philosopher, historian, judge, politician, adviser to the Prince - above all, astute observer of human nature. With uncompromising candour, he exposes man as he is, not as he ought to be, examining such givens of Renaissance power as negotiating for position, expediting a personal suit, speaking effectively, and the role of dissimulation in social and political situations. He scrutinizes judicial prerogatives and probes the causes and dangers of atheism and superstition. Even such topics as boldness or love or deformity have a practical bent. In Bacon's own phrase, these essays 'come home to Mens Businesse and Bosomes.' It is especially through their matchless style that they come home–with imaginative vigour, concrete language, and the colloquial force of individual sentences. An introduction places the essays in their original context, examines their evolution over Bacon's lifetime, and elucidates their form and prose style; a commentary examines his sources and relates essays to his other writings; a glossary and index are also included.

The most comprehensive collection available in paperback of Bacon’s philosophical and scientific writings, this volume offers Bacon's major works in their entirety, or in substantive selections, revised from the classic 19th century editions of Spedding, Ellis, and Heath. Selections from some of Bacon's natural histories round out this edition by showing the types of compilations that he believed would most contribute to the third part of his Great Instauration. Each work has a separate brief introduction indicating the major themes developed. In her general Introduction, Sargent gives a biographical sketch of Bacon's early life, education, and legal career, discusses the major components of his philosophical project, and traces his influence on subsequent natural philosophy. In addition, she looks at the primarily negative evaluations of Bacon's methodological writings by philosophers of science in the first half of the twentieth century, the reassessments of his works that took place as the influence of logical empiricism declined, and the current revival of interest in Bacon that coincides with the focus on experimental practice today. A bibliography and index complete the text.

The most comprehensive collection available in paperback of Bacons philosophical and scientific writings, this volume offers Bacon's major works in their entirety, or in substantive selections, revised from the classic 19th century editions of Spedding, Ellis, and Heath. Selections from some of Bacon's natural histories round out this edition by showing the types of compilations that he believed would most contribute to the third part of his Great Instauration. Each work has a separate brief introduction indicating the major themes developed. In her general Introduction, Sargent gives a biographical sketch of Bacon's early life, education, and legal career, discusses the major components of his philosophical project, and traces his influence on subsequent natural philosophy. In addition, she looks at the primarily negative evaluations of Bacon's methodological writings by philosophers of science in the first half of the twentieth century, the reassessments of his works that took place as the influence of logical empiricism declined, and the current revival of interest in Bacon that coincides with the focus on experimental practice today. A bibliography and index complete the text.

This is a new classroom edition of Bacon's great work of 1620, a founding document of empiricism and scientific method. It features an introduction and notes to help the reader.

This is a major new student edition of the text described as ‘the first modern classic of English history’. Bacon’s penetration into human motives, his life-long experience of politics and government, and his remarkable literary skills, render this History of the Reign of King Henry VII a major work of English literature and an important document in the history of political thought. The introduction places Bacon’s History in the context of Renaissance historiography, revealing its debt to Tacitus, and shows Bacon’s originality in re-ordering traditional material to make a coherent psychological analysis of the King’s actions. In addition to the usual series features and supporting contextual material (including relevant Essays by Bacon), generous editorial footnotes explain the historical and political issues of the reign of Henry VII, and a substantial glossary clarifies Bacon’s rich but sometimes unfamiliar vocabulary.

This is a major student edition of the text described as 'the first modern classic of English history'. Bacon's penetration into human motives, his life-long experience of politics and government, and his remarkable literary skills, render this History of the Reign of King Henry VII a major work of English literature and an important document in the history of political thought. The introduction places Bacon's History in the context of Renaissance historiography, revealing its debt to Tacitus, and shows Bacon's originality in re-ordering traditional material to make a coherent psychological analysis of the King's actions. In addition to the usual series features and supporting contextual material (including relevant Essays by Bacon), generous editorial footnotes explain the historical and political issues of the reign of Henry VII, and a substantial glossary clarifies Bacon's rich but sometimes unfamiliar vocabulary.

Jerry Weinberger reinterprets the meaning of Francis Bacon's History and defines its importance to the rise of modern republicanism, liberalism and the politics of progress. His introduction describes the background of Bacon's History placing it in the context of Bacon's work and the sources he may have used. Weinberger comments on the changing reputation and interpretation of The History and discusses its significance as a work of early modern political philosophy. The text of The History follows, accompanied by extensive explanatory footnotes. Weinberger's annotations establish the relationship of text to the surviving manuscript, the first printed edition, and the Latin translation. In addition, they show Bacon's differences from the earlier historians on whom he relied, explaining obsolete words, and clarifying matters of historical chronology and fact. In his interpretive essay, Weinberger discusses contemporary debates on how best to approach and understand The History. He suggest that Bacon's apparently contradictory work is a subtle and seamless picture of the modern state. The History is not just an account of the first Tudor monarch, Weinberger claims; it also presents Bacon's teachings about the moral and political ends of modern progress. At its deepest level, Bacon's work addresses the justification of modern times and reopens the ageless questions of political philosophy.

This volume inaugurates a new critical edition of the writings of the great English philosopher and sage Francis Bacon (1561-1626) - the first such complete edition for more than a hundred years. It contains six of Bacon's Latin scientific works, each accompanied by entirely new facing-page translations which, together with the extensive introduction and commentaries, offer fresh insights into one of the great minds of the early seventeenth century.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), scientist, lawyer, and statesman, occupies a unique position in English letters. His most widely read work, the Essays, still ranks high among the masterpieces produced during one of the greatest periods of English prose. These richly condensed utterances on human life show, in the matter of conduct, something of the same stress on the pragmatic that Bacon brought to his scientific writing. Together, these great essays are a rich collection of shrewd observations about human passions and pursuits, old age, religion, death, friendship, and even the proper ordering of buildings and gardens.