Francis Bacon On Motion And Power

This book offers a comprehensive and unitary study of the philosophy of Francis Bacon, with special emphasis on the medical, ethical and political aspects of his thought. It presents an original interpretation focused on the material conditions of nature and human life. In particular, coverage in the book is organized around the unifying theme of Bacon’s notion of appetite, which is considered in its natural, ethical, medical and political meanings. The book redefines the notions of experience and experiment in Bacon’s philosophy of nature, shows the important presence of Stoic themes in his work as well as provides an original discussion of the relationships between natural magic, prudence and political realism in his philosophy. Bringing together scholarly expertise from the history of philosophy, the history of science and the history of literature, this book presents readers with a rich and diverse contextualization of Bacon’s philosophy.

Why does a wine glass break when you drop it, whereas a steel goblet does not? The answer may seem obvious: glass, unlike steel, is fragile. This is an explanation in terms of a power or disposition: the glass breaks because it possesses a particular power, namely fragility. Seemingly simple, such intrinsic dispositions or powers have fascinated philosophers for centuries. A power's central task is explaining why a thing changes in the ways that it does, rather than in other ways: powers should explain why an acorn turns into an oak tree, not a sunflower, or why fire burns wood, and wood can catch fire. This volume examines the twists and turns of the fascinating history of a difficult philosophical concept, focusing on the metaphysical sense of "powers"--that is, the powers that are invoked in the explanation of natural changes and activities. Scholars probe the views of thinkers from antiquity to the present day: Anaxagoras, Plato, the Stoics, Abelard, Anselm, Henry of Ghent, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Margaret Cavendish, Mary Shepherd, Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and numerous others. In addition, the volume contains four short reflection essays that examine the concept of powers from the perspective of disciplines other than philosophy, namely history of music, West African religions, history of chemistry, and history of art. The history of philosophy brims with controversies surrounding the concept of power, and these controversies have not diminished--particularly as potentialities or powers see a revival in contemporary analytic metaphysics. Hence, telling the history of philosophical theories of powers means exploring the trajectory of a concept whose importance to the past and present of philosophy can hardly be overstated.

The father of Empiricism, the Elizabethan philosopher Francis Bacon was an advocate and practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution. His pioneering works argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning and careful observation of events in nature. This comprehensive eBook presents Bacon’s collected works, with numerous illustrations, rare texts appearing in digital print for the first time, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Bacon’s life and works * Concise introductions to the major texts * All the major works, with individual contents tables * Features rare treatises appearing for the first time in digital publishing * Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Excellent formatting of the texts * Special criticism section, with essays evaluating Bacon’s contribution to philosophy and the ‘Bacon is Shakespeare’ theory * Features three biographies - discover Bacon’s intriguing life * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles CONTENTS: The Books The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral The Colours of Good and Evil Meditationes Sacrae Valerius Terminus of the Interpretation of Nature The Advancement and Proficience of Learning Divine and Human In Felicem Memoriam Elizabethae De Sapientia Veterum Instauratio Magna Novum Organum Scientiarum History of the Reign of King Henry VII Translation of Certain Psalms into English Verse Preparative toward a Natural and Experimental History New Atlantis Sylva Sylvarvm Theological Tracts The Union of the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England The Criticism Bacon is Shake-Speare by Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence Shakespeare, Bacon, and the Great Unknown by Andrew Lang Forty Years of Bacon-Shakespeare Folly by John Fiske The Classification of the Sciences — Francis Bacon by Walter Libby The Biographies Bacon by R. W. Church The Mystery of Francis Bacon by William T. Smedley Brief Biography: Francis Bacon by Robert Adamson Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles or to purchase this eBook as a Parts Edition of individual eBooks

Francis Bacon - a leading figure in the history of science - never made a major discovery, provided a lasting explanation of any physical phenomena or revealed any hidden laws of nature. How then can he rank as he does alongside Newton? Bacon was the first major thinker to describe how science should be done, and to explain why. Scientific knowledge should not be gathered for its own sake but for practical benefit to mankind. And Bacon promoted experimentation, coming to outline and define the rigorous procedures of the 'scientific method' that today from the very bedrock of modern scientific progress. John Henry gives a dramatic account of the background to Bacon's innovations and the sometimes unconventional sources for his ideas. Why was he was so concerned to revolutionize the attitude to scientific knowledge - and why do his ideas for reform still resonate today?

The complete writings of English philosopher Francis Bacon are arranged according to subject matter in this 1857-74 edition.