A near-contemporary of Descartes, Bacon was born 35 years earlier, in 1561. I have to say I loved the archaic language of this text. It reminded me of stories I read when I was young though I can't remember what these were: perhaps Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, Joshua Slocum's travels etc. Sentences like, "So that, finding ourselves, in the midst of the greatest wilderness of waters in the world, without victual, we gave ourselves up for lost men, and prepared for death."; "But straightaway we saw divers of the people..."; "Ye knit my heart to you by asking this question ..."
Bacon's book is about a Utopic island. His narrator is travelling by ship with 50 other people, leaving from Peru and sailing the southern sea heading for China and Japan. They end up on the island of Bensalem. It's described as an island that, shortly after Jesus' ascension into heaven, saw a column of light in the ocean nearby and found a wooden chest (an ark) containing the bible (Old and New testaments) and a letter written by one of Jesus' apostles, Bartholomew. The island was "saved from infidelity (as the remains of the old world was from water) by an ark, through the apostolical and miraculous evangelism of St Bartholomew." Bacon's narrator makes careful distinction in the book (pg 15) between something supernatural being "rather as angelical than magical." A governor of Bensalem tells the company that "about three thousand years ago, or somewhat more, the navigation of the world (especially for remote voyages) was greater than at this day," referring to the fleets of the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, Egpyt, China and "the great Atlantis (that you call America)." He speaks about the descendants of Neptune, with temples, palace, city in the country of Atlantis and speaks of two great expeditions: from [present-day] Mexico across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea; and from [present-day] Peru via the South Sea to the island of Bensalem. The governor recounts a great Flood (deluge or inundation) that destroyed Great Atlantis leaving a scarce young population (the aboriginal peoples at the time of contact).
Bensalem had a great king almost 2000 years earlier, called Salomona (with a later reference to Solomon, king of the Hebrews). He made many laws including laws "touching entrance of strangers" adding that this was "after the calamity of America," and referring to China having a law against the entrance of strangers without license. Salomona founded an institution called Salomon's House, or the College of the Six Day's Work (being a Christian island), dedicated to finding out the true nature of all things.
Like Descartes, Bacon uses the metaphor of knowledge as light. "But thus you see we maintain a trade, not for gold, silver, or jewels, nor for silks, nor for spices [...]; but only for God's first creature, which was light; to have light, I say, of the growth of all parts of the world." (pg 21).
The narrator receives a private audience with one of the fathers of Salomon's House who tells him their purpose is: "The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible" (pg 31). They do this via various deep caves and high towers on hills and other locations in the natural world where they make observations and experiments. They have developed a "water of Paradise" for "health and prolongation of life" (very Ponce de Leon). Somewhat jarringly, in the middle of a description of a Paradisical park with divers plants, beasts and birds, there is a reference to animal experiments and vivisection "that thereby may take light what may be wrought upon the body of man. [...] We try also all poisons, and other medicines upon them, as well of chirurgery as physic." There is quite a bit of description of some genetic engineering with the human hubris that holds true today with scientists and breeders thinking they are wiser than Nature in deciding what types of characteristics should be fostered and cultivated. Also lots of descriptions of magical foods, medicines.
In the descriptions of what they have discovered and invented in Bensalem, you get intriguing hints of the various discoveries being made during and preceding Bacon's time and how this powered people's imaginations - and how imperfect their understanding of physics, biology etc were. There is a description or imagining of a "perspective-house" where they manipulate light and various spectra and can see things as far off as the heavens, descriptions of microscopes etc (which were being invented in the 17th century), microphones, the telephone even: "We have all means to convey sounds in trunks and pipes, in strange lines and distances." (pg 37), planes, submarines.
They have galleries full of statues honouring inventors and Bacon lists numerous inventors and their discoveries. This is a land where inventors and scientists are honoured and revered.
It's a slight text but very interesting. I'm curious about what the class discussion will be. I don't know that I came away with a clear idea of Bacon's contributions to 16c. (and later) thought but as I read various thinkers who came after him, his contributions became clearer. He is described as an empiricist.
The Stanford site mentions him during a section on the Enlightenment:
Bacon's book is about a Utopic island. His narrator is travelling by ship with 50 other people, leaving from Peru and sailing the southern sea heading for China and Japan. They end up on the island of Bensalem. It's described as an island that, shortly after Jesus' ascension into heaven, saw a column of light in the ocean nearby and found a wooden chest (an ark) containing the bible (Old and New testaments) and a letter written by one of Jesus' apostles, Bartholomew. The island was "saved from infidelity (as the remains of the old world was from water) by an ark, through the apostolical and miraculous evangelism of St Bartholomew." Bacon's narrator makes careful distinction in the book (pg 15) between something supernatural being "rather as angelical than magical." A governor of Bensalem tells the company that "about three thousand years ago, or somewhat more, the navigation of the world (especially for remote voyages) was greater than at this day," referring to the fleets of the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, Egpyt, China and "the great Atlantis (that you call America)." He speaks about the descendants of Neptune, with temples, palace, city in the country of Atlantis and speaks of two great expeditions: from [present-day] Mexico across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea; and from [present-day] Peru via the South Sea to the island of Bensalem. The governor recounts a great Flood (deluge or inundation) that destroyed Great Atlantis leaving a scarce young population (the aboriginal peoples at the time of contact).
Bensalem had a great king almost 2000 years earlier, called Salomona (with a later reference to Solomon, king of the Hebrews). He made many laws including laws "touching entrance of strangers" adding that this was "after the calamity of America," and referring to China having a law against the entrance of strangers without license. Salomona founded an institution called Salomon's House, or the College of the Six Day's Work (being a Christian island), dedicated to finding out the true nature of all things.
Like Descartes, Bacon uses the metaphor of knowledge as light. "But thus you see we maintain a trade, not for gold, silver, or jewels, nor for silks, nor for spices [...]; but only for God's first creature, which was light; to have light, I say, of the growth of all parts of the world." (pg 21).
The narrator receives a private audience with one of the fathers of Salomon's House who tells him their purpose is: "The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible" (pg 31). They do this via various deep caves and high towers on hills and other locations in the natural world where they make observations and experiments. They have developed a "water of Paradise" for "health and prolongation of life" (very Ponce de Leon). Somewhat jarringly, in the middle of a description of a Paradisical park with divers plants, beasts and birds, there is a reference to animal experiments and vivisection "that thereby may take light what may be wrought upon the body of man. [...] We try also all poisons, and other medicines upon them, as well of chirurgery as physic." There is quite a bit of description of some genetic engineering with the human hubris that holds true today with scientists and breeders thinking they are wiser than Nature in deciding what types of characteristics should be fostered and cultivated. Also lots of descriptions of magical foods, medicines.
In the descriptions of what they have discovered and invented in Bensalem, you get intriguing hints of the various discoveries being made during and preceding Bacon's time and how this powered people's imaginations - and how imperfect their understanding of physics, biology etc were. There is a description or imagining of a "perspective-house" where they manipulate light and various spectra and can see things as far off as the heavens, descriptions of microscopes etc (which were being invented in the 17th century), microphones, the telephone even: "We have all means to convey sounds in trunks and pipes, in strange lines and distances." (pg 37), planes, submarines.
They have galleries full of statues honouring inventors and Bacon lists numerous inventors and their discoveries. This is a land where inventors and scientists are honoured and revered.
It's a slight text but very interesting. I'm curious about what the class discussion will be. I don't know that I came away with a clear idea of Bacon's contributions to 16c. (and later) thought but as I read various thinkers who came after him, his contributions became clearer. He is described as an empiricist.
The Stanford site mentions him during a section on the Enlightenment:
Though Bacon's work belongs to the Renaissance, the revolution he undertook to effect in the sciences inspires and influences Enlightenment thinkers. The Enlightenment, as the age in which experimental natural science matures and comes into its own, admires Bacon as “the father of experimental philosophy.” Bacon's revolution (enacted in, among other works, The New Organon, 1620) involves conceiving the new science as (1) founded on empirical observation and experimentation; (2) arrived at through the method of induction; and (3) as ultimately aiming at, and as confirmed by, enhanced practical capacities (hence the Baconian motto, “knowledge is power”).
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