Francis Bacon: biography, philosophy. Francis Bacon - biography, information, personal life

Francis Bacon is an English philosopher, progenitor of empiricism, materialism and the founder of theoretical mechanics. Born January 22, 1561 in London. Graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge University. He held fairly high positions under King James I.

Bacon's philosophy took shape during the general cultural upsurge of the capitalistically developing European countries, the alienation of the scholastic ideas of church dogma.

The problems of the relationship between man and nature occupy a central place in the entire philosophy of Francis Bacon. In his work The New Organon, Bacon tries to present the correct method of knowing nature, preferring the inductive method of knowing, which is trivially called "Bacon's method." This method is based on the transition from particular provisions to general ones, on the experimental testing of hypotheses.

Science occupies a strong position in all of Bacon's philosophy, his winged aphorism "Knowledge is power" is widely known. The philosopher tried to connect the differentiated parts of science into a single system for a holistic reflection of the picture of the world. The basis of the scientific knowledge of Francis Bacon is the hypothesis that God, having created man in his own image and likeness, endowed him with a mind for research, knowledge of the Universe. It is the mind that is able to provide a person with well-being, to gain power over nature.

But on the way of human knowledge of the Universe, mistakes are made that Bacon called idols or ghosts, systematizing them into four groups:

idols of the cave - in addition to the errors inherent in all, there are purely individual ones, associated with the narrowness of people's knowledge, they can be both innate and acquired.
idols of the theater or theories - the assimilation by a person from other people of false ideas about reality
idols of the square or market - susceptibility to common misconceptions that are generated by speech communication and, in general, the social nature of man.
idols of the family - are born, hereditarily transmitted by human nature, do not depend on the culture and individuality of a person.

Bacon considers all idols to be just attitudes of human consciousness, and traditions of thinking, which may turn out to be false. The sooner a person can clear his mind of idols that interfere with an adequate perception of the picture of the world, his knowledge, the sooner he will be able to master the knowledge of nature.

The main category in Bacon's philosophy is experience, which gives food to the mind, determines the reliability of specific knowledge. To get to the bottom of the truth, you need to accumulate enough experience, and in testing hypotheses, experience is the best evidence.

Bacon is rightfully considered the founder of English materialism, for him matter, being, nature, the objective as opposed to idealism, are primary.

Bacon introduced the concept of the dual soul of man, noting that bodily man unequivocally belongs to science, but he considers the soul of man, introducing the categories of the rational soul and the sensual soul. The rational soul in Bacon is the subject of study of theology, and the sensual soul is studied by philosophy.

Francis Bacon made a huge contribution to the development of English and European philosophy, to the emergence of a completely new European thinking, was the founder of the inductive method of cognition and materialism.

Among the most significant followers of Bacon: T. Hobbes, D. Locke, D. Diderot, J. Bayer.

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F. Bacon (1561 - 1626) is considered the founder of New European philosophy, since it is he who owns a new view of philosophy, which later received wide development: "... the fruits brought ... and practical inventions are, as it were, guarantors and witnesses of the truth of philosophies." His saying: "Knowledge is power" expresses the attitude towards science as the main means of solving human problems.

By origin, Bacon belonged to the circles of the court bureaucracy, received a university education. His most important works are The New Organon (1620) and On the Dignity and Growth of Science (1623). In them, the author proceeds from the objective needs of society and expresses the interests of the progressive forces of that time, emphasizing empirical research, the knowledge of nature. The main goal of knowledge, according to F. Bacon, is to strengthen the power of man over nature. To do this, we must abandon the scholastic speculative methods of cognition, turn to nature itself and the knowledge of its laws. Therefore, the subject epistemology matter itself, its structure and transformations, acted.

For an objective study of nature, he turns to experience, for the best of all proofs is experience. Moreover, experience in Bacon's view is not likened to the old empiricists, who "... like an ant only collect and use what they have collected", experience must be combined with reason. This will also help to avoid the limitations of rationalists, "... like a spider out of themselves ..." creating a fabric. His experience, according to his own remark, rather resembles the actions of a bee, which chooses the middle way, "it extracts material from the flowers of the garden and the field, but disposes and changes it with its own skill." He divides experiments into “light-bearing”, which “... in themselves do not bring benefits, but contribute to the discovery of causes and axioms”, and “fruitful”, directly beneficial.

According to his positions, F. Bacon entered the history of philosophy as a representative empiricism . In his opinion, the conclusions of knowledge - theories should be based on a new, inductive, method, i.e. moving from the particular to the general, from the experiment to the mental processing of the material obtained. Before Bacon, philosophers who wrote about induction paid attention mainly to those cases or facts that confirm propositions or generalizable propositions. Bacon emphasized the significance of those cases that refute the generalization, contradict it. These are the so-called negative instances. Already one - the only such case is able to completely or at least partially refute a hasty generalization. According to Bacon, neglect of negative instances is the main cause of errors, superstitions and prejudices.

The new method, first of all, requires the liberation of the mind from preconceived ideas - ghosts, idols. He designated these idols as "idols of the clan", "idols of the cave", "idols of the market", "idols of the theater". The first two are innate, and the second are acquired during the individual development of a person.

“Idols of the kind” mean that a person judges nature by analogy with himself, therefore, teleological errors in ideas about nature occur.

"Idols of the cave" arise as a result of subjective sympathies, antipathies to certain established ideas.

“Idols of the market”, or otherwise, “squares” arise as a result of communication between people through words, which make it difficult to know things, because. their meaning was often established by chance, not on the basis of the essence of the subject.

"Idols of the theater" are generated by uncritical assimilation of the opinions of authorities.

Bacon also creates one of the first classifications of sciences, at the basis of which he puts the abilities of the human soul: history is built on the basis of memory, poetry is built on imagination, reason gives rise to philosophy, mathematics and natural science.

In his opinion, the immediate task of knowledge is the study of the causes of objects. Causes can be either efficient (what are usually called causes) or final causes, i.e. goals. The science of efficient causes is physics, the science of ends or final causes is metaphysics. The task of the science of nature is the study of efficient causes. Therefore, Bacon saw the essence of natural science in physics. Knowledge of nature is used to improve practical life. Mechanics deals with the application of the knowledge of efficient causes. The application of the knowledge of final causes is engaged in "natural magic". Mathematics, according to Bacon, has no purpose of its own and is only an auxiliary means for natural science.

However, the views of Francis Bacon were of a dual nature: his ideas about the world could not yet be free from an appeal to God, he recognizes a twofold form of truth - scientific and the truth of "revelation".

Based on cognitive tasks, Bacon builds ontology . In solving the problem of substance, he belonged to the materialists, because He believed that matter itself is the cause of all causes, without being itself conditioned by any cause. To describe matter, he uses the traditional concept of form. But according to Aristotle, the form is ideal, while Bacon understands the form as the material essence of the properties of an object. According to him, form is a kind of movement of material particles that make up the body. The properties and qualities of an object are also material. Simple forms are carriers of a certain number of basic properties, to which the whole variety of properties of things can be reduced. There are as many elementary properties of things in nature as there are simple forms. Bacon refers color, heaviness, movement, size, heat, etc. to such forms - properties. Just as a huge number of words are made up of a small number of letters of the alphabet, so an inexhaustible number of objects and natural phenomena are made up of combinations of simple forms. Thus, Bacon considers every complex thing as a sum of simple compound forms, which means the principle of mechanism, i.e. reduction of the complex to the simple - to the primary elements. He also relates the quantitative side of things to one of the forms, but he considers that it is not sufficient to determine the thing.

Bacon's materialistic position in understanding nature also contained dialectical positions: for example, he considered movement to be an integral internal property of matter. He even singled out various forms of movement, although at that time it was customary to consider only one - mechanical, simple movement of bodies.

The materialism of Francis Bacon was limited. His teaching presupposes an understanding of the world as material, but in its essence consisting of a finite number of basic parts, limited quantitatively and qualitatively. This view was further developed in the metaphysical materialism of modern European philosophy.

The duality of Bacon's position was also manifested in doctrine of man .

Man is dual. In its corporeality, it belongs to nature and is studied by philosophy and science. But the human soul is a complex formation: it consists of a rational and sensual soul. The rational soul enters a person by "God's inspiration", therefore it is studied by theology. The sensual soul has features of corporality and is the subject of philosophy.

Francis Bacon's contribution to science and philosophy was of great importance, since, in contrast to scholasticism, he puts forward a new methodology aimed at genuine knowledge of nature, its internal laws. In fact, his work opened a new historical form of philosophy - the new European one.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher and statesman. Graduated from Cambridge University and Law School. In 1584 he was elected to the House of Commons, where he sat for about 20 years. In 1613, Fr. Bacon became Attorney General of the Royal Court, in 1617 Lord Privy Seal, and in 1618 Lord Chancellor. In the same year, the king awarded him the title of Baron of Verulamsky, and later also the title of Viscount of St. Albans. In 1621, the House of Lords accused him of corruption and bribery. Court decision Fr. Bacon was forbidden to conduct any state activity, but until his death he continued to engage in science.

Although most of Bacon's life (and, in another approach, all of it) proceeded within the conventional chronological framework of the Renaissance, due to the nature of his teaching, he is considered the first modern philosopher.

Practical benefits of science. Bacon noted that the discovery of printing, gunpowder and the compass completely changed the state of affairs, respectively, in literature, military affairs and navigation; these changes in turn gave impetus to numerous changes in all other spheres of human activity. Not a single empire, not a single sect, not a single star has made a greater impact on humanity. But, studying the history of culture, we see that throughout human history, science has had a very weak impact on everyday life. This must be changed: science and acquired knowledge must bear fruit in practice, must serve for the development of technology and industry, and make human life easier.

Biology and anthropology. Mechanistically, Descartes interprets not only inanimate nature, but also living. An animal's body is an automaton in which muscles, ligaments, and joints play the role of gears, levers, and so on. From the brain throughout the body, like threads, nerves stretch, through them the influence of objects from the outside world on the brain is carried out, and through them the commands of the brain are transmitted to the muscles. But with the help of mechanics it is impossible to explain the activity of thinking, and this is one of the reasons why Descartes considered consciousness to be a special substance. The sharp opposition of the body as a mechanism to consciousness (soul) confronted Descartes with the complex problem of their relationship in humans. He tried to solve it mechanistically, arguing that the data of the senses (mechanical influences) are transmitted to consciousness in the pineal gland.

Teaching about method. Scientific knowledge of the world must be based on the use of rigorous methods, which will allow us to move from the random finding of individual truths to their systematic and purposeful "production" If Fr. Bacon considered experience related to objects of the external world to be the basis of science, while Descartes focused on the activity of the human mind, on the search for rules by which the human mind should act. In Rules for the Direction of the Mind, he proposes 21 such rules; in Discourse on Method he reduces them to four.

Table 59 Rules to guide the mind

First rule	Consider as truths only what I clearly recognize as such, i.e. carefully avoid haste and prejudice, and accept in my judgments only what appears to my mind so clearly and distinctly that it does not in any way arouse doubt in me.
Second rule	To divide each of the difficulties I am considering into as many parts as possible and as necessary for the best solution.
Third rule	Think in order, starting with simple and easily cognizable objects, and ascend little by little, as if by steps, to the knowledge of the most complex.
Fourth Rule	To make such complete lists everywhere and such general overviews as to be sure that nothing was missed.

Gnoseology and rationalism. The first rule is at the same time the last: everything begins with it and everything ends with it. But what can be considered absolutely clear and obvious, without any doubts? Our senses sometimes deceive us. So, we can assume that nothing in the world is what it seems to us. Another source of knowledge is our mind. A pure mind generates, for example, mathematics. And we can say that 2 + 2 = 4 under any circumstances, in a dream and in reality. But is it possible that mathematical knowledge is just a hoax invented by some evil spirit?

Doubt is useful and necessary, it is an obligatory stage on the way to truth. You can doubt everything, but for this it is still necessary that there be someone who doubts, thinks, reflects. Hence, as completely obvious and indisputable, Descartes derives his famous thesis: "I think, therefore I am"("Cogito ergo sum") 1 . The absolute evidence of this thesis for our mind makes it a model of those truths that can be considered so clear and distinct that they do not cause any doubts. On the other hand, it is the evidence of an idea for the mind that turns out to be the highest criterion of truth. In the human mind, Descartes identifies three types of ideas (Table 60).

Table 60 Ideas Contained in the Mind of Man

Innate ideas are contained in the human mind in a coiled form, like germs. The most important among them is the idea of God as an infinite, eternal, unchanging, independent, omniscient substance that gave birth to man and the whole world. The goodness of God is a guarantee that man, His creation, is also capable of cognizing the world, i.e. those ideas that God put into the world during creation as the fundamental laws of being. These same ideas, and primarily mathematical laws and axioms, God put into the human mind. In the mind of the student of science, they unfold and become clear and distinct. 1 This thesis of Descartes interestingly echoes the thesis of Meister Eckhart: “God exists because he knows” (see p. 231).

Ethics. The ethical views of Descartes are also built on the basis of rationalism: the task of a thinking person is to strengthen the power of reason over the tyranny of the senses. In the work "Passion of the Soul" he formulated his basic rules of morality (maxims) (Table 61).

Table 61 moral rules

First rule	Obedience to the laws and customs of my country, respect for religion, in the shadow of which God gave me the grace to be educated, from the earliest age guided me in all affairs in accordance with the most moderate views, far from any extremes, universally accepted and widespread. strange among the people in whose society I had to live.
Second rule	Firmness, determination and stubborn adherence to the chosen positions, even if they are in doubt, as if they were the most reliable.
Third rule	To conquer, rather, oneself than fate, and change, rather, one's desires than the world order; to believe that there is nothing that would be entirely in our power, with the exception of our thoughts.
Fourth Rule	To use my whole life in cultivating the mind and, as far as possible, to advance in the knowledge of the truth, following the method that I have prescribed for myself.

The fate of teaching The diverse ideas of Descartes had a very significant influence on the development of all subsequent Western philosophy. Thus, the dualism of Descartes was developed in a special trend - occasionalism, but was not accepted by other philosophers - even by Spinoza, whom he considered himself a student of Descartes. The foundations of deism and mechanism laid down in the teachings of Descartes were most actively developed in the teachings of Newton, and later by many enlighteners. The rationalism of Descartes formed the basis of all the rationalism of modern times, but already at the end of the 17th century. in philosophy, the opposite doctrine, sensationalism, is born (for more details, see Scheme 103).

Francis Bacon was born in London to a noble and respected family. His father Nicholas was a politician, and his mother Anna (nee Cook) was the daughter of Anthony Cook, a well-known humanist who raised King Edward VI of England and Ireland. From a young age, the mother instilled in her son a love of knowledge, and she, a girl who knows ancient Greek and Latin, did it with ease. In addition, the boy himself, from a very tender age, showed a great interest in knowledge.

In general, not much is known about the childhood of the great thinker. He received the basics of knowledge at home, as he was distinguished by poor health. But this did not prevent him at the age of 12, along with his older brother Anthony, to enter Trinity College (Holy Trinity College) at Cambridge. During his studies, the smart and educated Francis was noticed not only by the courtiers, but also by Queen Elizabeth I herself, who enjoyed talking with the young man, often jokingly calling him the rising Lord Keeper.

Upon graduating from college, the brothers entered the community of teachers at Grace's Inn (1576). In the autumn of the same year, with the help of his father, Francis, as part of the retinue of Sir Amyas Paulet, went abroad. The realities of life in other countries, seen then by Francis, resulted in notes “On the State of Europe”.

Misfortune forced Bacon to return to his homeland - in February 1579, his father passed away. In the same year, he began his career as a lawyer at Grace's Inn. A year later, Bacon petitioned to seek some position at court. However, despite the rather warm attitude of Queen Elizabeth to Bacon, he did not hear a positive result. After working at Grace's Inn until 1582, he was promoted to junior barrister.

At the age of 23, Francis Bacon was honored to hold a position in the House of Commons. He had his own views, which sometimes did not agree with the views of the Queen, and therefore soon became known as her opponent. A year later, he was already elected to parliament, and Bacon's real "finest hour" came when James I came to power in 1603. Under his patronage, Bacon was appointed Attorney General (1612), five years later Lord Privy Seal, and from 1618 to 1621 was Lord Chancellor.

His career collapsed in an instant when, in the same 1621, Francis was charged with bribery. Then he was taken into custody, but only two days later he was pardoned. During his political activity, the world saw one of the most outstanding works of the thinker - "New Organon", which was the second part of the main work - "The Great Restoration of the Sciences", which, unfortunately, was never completed.

Philosophy of Bacon

Francis Bacon is not unreasonably considered the founder of modern thinking. His philosophical theory fundamentally refutes scholastic teachings, bringing knowledge and science to the fore. The thinker believed that a person who was able to cognize and accept the laws of nature is quite capable of using them for his own benefit, thereby gaining not only power, but also something more - spirituality. The philosopher subtly noticed that during the formation of the world, all discoveries were made, in fact, by chance - without special skills and possession of special techniques. Therefore, while learning about the world and gaining new knowledge, the main thing to use is experience and the inductive method, and research, in his opinion, should begin with observation, not theory. According to Bacon, a successful experiment can only be called such if conditions are constantly changing during its implementation, including time and space - matter must always be in motion.

The Empirical Teachings of Francis Bacon

The concept of "empiricism" appeared as a result of the development of Bacon's philosophical theory, and its essence was reduced to the proposition "knowledge lies through experience." He believed that it was possible to achieve something in his activity only if he had experience and knowledge. According to Bacon, there are three ways through which a person can gain knowledge:

"Way of the Spider". In this case, the analogy is drawn with a web, like which human thoughts are intertwined, while specific aspects are skipped by.
"Way of the Ant" Like an ant, a person collects facts and evidence bit by bit, thus gaining experience. However, the essence remains unclear.
"The Way of the Bee" In this case, the positive qualities of the way of the spider and the ant are used, and the negative ones (lack of specifics, misunderstood essence) are omitted. When choosing the path of a bee, it is important to put all the facts collected empirically through the mind and the prism of your thinking. This is how the truth is known.

Classification of obstacles on the way to knowledge

Bacon, in addition to the ways of knowledge. He also talks about constant obstacles (the so-called ghost obstacles) that accompany a person throughout his life. They can be congenital and acquired, but in any case, it is they that prevent you from tuning your mind to cognition. So, there are four types of obstacles: “Ghosts of the clan” (come from human nature itself), “Ghosts of the cave” (own errors in perceiving the surrounding reality), “ghosts of the market” (appear as a result of communicating with other people through speech (language)) and “ the ghosts of the theater” (inspired and imposed ghosts by other people). Bacon is sure that in order to know the new, one must abandon the old. At the same time, it is important not to “lose” the experience, relying on which and passing it through the mind, you can achieve success.

Personal life

Francis Bacon was married once. His wife was three times younger than himself. Alice Burnham, the daughter of the widow of the London elder Benedict Burnham, became the chosen one of the great philosopher. The couple had no children.

Bacon died as a result of a cold, which was the result of one of the ongoing experiments. Bacon stuffed a chicken carcass with snow with his hands, trying in this way to determine the effect of cold on the safety of meat products. Even when he was already seriously ill, foreshadowing his imminent death, Bacon wrote joyful letters to his comrade, Lord Arendel, never tired of repeating that science would eventually give man power over nature.

Quotes

Knowledge is power
Nature is conquered only by obeying its laws.
A hobbler on a straight road will outstrip a runner who has gone astray.
The worst loneliness is not having true friends.
The imaginary wealth of knowledge is the chief cause of its poverty.
Of all the virtues and virtues of the soul, the greatest virtue is kindness.

The most famous works of the philosopher

"Experiments, or instructions, moral and political" (3 editions, 1597-1625)
"On the Dignity and Multiplication of the Sciences" (1605)
"New Atlantis" (1627)

Throughout his life, 59 works came out from the pen of the philosopher; after his death, 29 more were published.

State budgetary educational institution of higher professional education

Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Professor V.F. Voyno-Yasenetsky"

Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation

On the discipline "Philosophy"

Theme: "Francis Bacon"

Executor

First year student of 102 groups

Faculty of Clinical Psychology, KrasSMU

Chernomurova Polina.

Krasnoyarsk 2013

Introduction

The new time is a time of great efforts and significant discoveries that were not appreciated by contemporaries, and became understandable only when their results eventually became one of the decisive factors in the life of human society. This is the time of the birth of the foundations of modern natural science, the prerequisites for the accelerated development of technology, which will later lead society to an economic revolution.

The philosophy of Francis Bacon is the philosophy of the English Renaissance. She is multifaceted. Bacon combines in it both innovation and tradition, science and literary creativity, based on the philosophy of the Middle Ages.

Biography

Francis Bacon was born on January 22, 1561 in London at York House in the Strand. In the family of one of the highest dignitaries at the court of Queen Elizabeth, Sir Nicholas Bacon. Bacon's mother, Anna Cook, came from the family of Sir Anthony Cook, the educator of King Edward VI, was well educated, spoke foreign languages, was interested in religion, and translated theological treatises and sermons into English.

In 1573, Francis entered Trinity College, Cambridge University. Three years later, Bacon, as part of the English mission, went to Paris, performs a number of diplomatic assignments, which gives him rich experience in getting acquainted with politics, court and religious life not only in France, but also in other countries of the continent - Italian principalities, Germany, Spain, Poland, Denmark and Sweden, which resulted in his notes on the State of Europe. In 1579, due to the death of his father, he was forced to return to England. As the youngest son in the family, he receives a modest inheritance and is forced to think about his future position.

The first step in Bacon's independent activity was jurisprudence. In 1586 he became the elder of the legal corporation. But jurisprudence did not become the main subject of Francis's interests. In 1593, Bacon was elected to the House of Commons in Middlesex County, where he gained fame as an orator. Initially, he adhered to the opinions of the opposition in a protest about an increase in taxes, then becomes a supporter of the government. In 1597, the first work that brings Bacon wide fame is published - a collection of short sketches, or essays containing reflections on moral or political topics 1 - "Experiments or Instructions", belong to the best fruits that, by the grace of God, my pen could bring »2. By 1605, the treatise “On the Significance and Success of Knowledge, Divine and Human” belongs.

Bacon's rise as a court politician came after the death of Elizabeth, at the court of James I Stuart. Since 1606, Bacon has held a number of high government positions. Of these, such as the full-time Queen's Counsel, the Supreme Queen's Counsel.

In England, the time is coming for the absolutist rule of James I: in 1614 he dissolved Parliament and ruled alone until 1621. During these years, feudalism intensifies and changes in domestic and foreign policy take place, which leads the country to a revolution in twenty-five years. In need of devoted advisers, the king brought Bacon especially close to him.

In 1616 Bacon became a member of the Privy Council, and in 1617 Lord Privy Seal. In 1618, Bacon - Lord, High Chancellor and Peer of England, Baron Verulamsky, from 1621 - Viscount of St. Albany.

When in 1621 the king convenes parliament, an investigation into the corruption of officials begins. Bacon, appearing before the court, admitted his guilt. The peers condemned Bacon to imprisonment in the Tower, but the king overturned the decision of the court.

Retired from politics, Bacon devoted himself to scientific and philosophical research. In 1620, Bacon published his main philosophical work, The New Organon, conceived as the second part of the work The Great Restoration of the Sciences.

In 1623, the extensive work “On the Dignity of the Multiplication of the Sciences” was published - the first part of the “Great Restoration of the Sciences”. Bacon tries the pen in the fashion genre in the 17th century. philosophical utopia - writes "New Atlantis". Among other works of the outstanding English thinker: “Thoughts and Observations”, “On the Wisdom of the Ancients”, “On the Sky”, “On Causes and Beginnings”, “History of Winds”, “History of Life and Death”, “History of Henry VII”, etc. .

During his last experience with the preservation of chicken meat by freezing it, Bacon caught a bad cold. Francis Bacon died on April 9, 1626 at the home of the Count of Arondel in Gayget.1

Human and nature. The central idea of the philosophy of Francis Bacon

Appeal to Nature, the desire to penetrate into it becomes the general slogan of the era, the expression of the secret spirit of the time. Arguments about "natural" religion, "natural" law, "natural" morality are theoretical reflections of the persistent desire to return to Nature all human life. And the same tendencies are proclaimed by the philosophy of Francis Bacon. “Man, the servant and interpreter of Nature, does and understands just as much as he embraces in the order of Nature; beyond this he knows and cannot do anything.”1. This statement captures the essence of Bacon's ontology.

Bacon's activity as a whole was aimed at promoting science, at indicating its paramount importance in the life of mankind, at developing a new holistic view of its structure, classification, goals and methods of research.

The purpose of scientific knowledge is inventions and discoveries. The purpose of inventions is human benefit, meeting the needs and improving people's lives, increasing the potential of its energy, increasing the power of man over nature. Science is a means, not an end in itself, knowledge for knowledge's sake, wisdom for wisdom's sake. The reason that so far science has made little progress is the dominance of wrong criteria and assessments of what their achievements consist of. Man is the master of nature. "Nature is conquered only by submission to it, and what in contemplation appears as a cause, in action is a rule." In order to subjugate nature, a person must study its laws and learn how to use his knowledge in real practice. It is Bacon who owns the famous aphorism “knowledge is power”. What is most useful in action is most true in knowledge.2 “I build in human understanding the true image of the world, such as it is, and not such as each one has his mind. And this cannot be done without careful dissection and dissection of the world. And I believe that those absurd and monkey images of the world, which are created in philosophical systems by the invention of people, should be completely dispelled.

Therefore, truth and usefulness are one and the same thing, and activity itself is valued more as a guarantee of truth than as a creator of the blessings of life. Only true knowledge gives people real power and ensures their ability to change the face of the world; two human aspirations - for knowledge and power - find here their optimal resultant. This is the basic idea of Bacon's philosophy, which Farrington called "the philosophy of industrial science." Thanks to Bacon, the relation man-nature is understood in a new way, which is transformed into the relation subject-object, and enters the European mentality. Man is presented as a knowing and acting principle, that is, a subject, and nature as an object to be known and used.

Bacon is negative about the past, tendentious about the present and believes in a brighter future. He has a negative attitude towards the past centuries, excluding the eras of the Greek pre-Socratics, the ancient Romans and modern times, since he considers this time not the creation of new knowledge, but even the failures of previously accumulated knowledge.

Calling on people, armed with knowledge, to subjugate nature, Francis Bacon rebelled against the prevailing at that time scholastic scholarship and the spirit of human self-abasement. Bacon also refuses the authority of Aristotle. “The logic that is now used serves rather to strengthen and preserve errors that have their basis in generally accepted concepts than to find the truth. Therefore, it is more harmful than useful.”2 He orients science towards the search for truth in practice, in direct observation and study of nature. “Is it possible not to take into account the fact that long voyages and travels, which have become so frequent in our time, have discovered and shown in nature many things that can shed new light on philosophy. And of course, it would be shameful if, while the boundaries of the material world - earth, sea and stars - were so widely opened and moved apart, the mental world continued to remain within the narrow limits of what was discovered by the ancients. Bacon calls to move away from the power of authorities, not to take away the rights of Time - this author of all authors and the source of all authority. "Truth is the daughter of Time, not Authority." The central problem of F. Bacon's philosophy can be called the problem of the relationship between man and nature, which he solves from the side of evaluating all phenomena in terms of their usefulness, the ability to serve as a means to achieve any goal.

Critique of Ordinary and Scholastic Reason

“In future times, I believe that the opinion will be expressed about me that I did not do anything great, but only considered insignificant what was considered great.”1

Important questions leading to the very essence of philosophy as a science are "truth" and "imaginary", "objectivity" and "subjectivity" of the components of human knowledge. Bacon was critical of the Idols of Reason, believed that the study of nature and the development of philosophy are hindered by delusions, prejudices, and cognitive "idols."2

From English, idol (idolum) is translated as vision, ghost, fantasy, misconception3. There are idols of four kinds. The first idols of the “Idols of the Kind” come from the very nature of the human mind, which nourishes the will and feelings, coloring all things in subjective tones and thereby distorting their real nature. For example, an individual tends to believe that a person’s feelings are the measure of all things, he draws analogies with himself, and does not base his conclusions about things on “analogues of the world”, thus a person introduces a purpose into all objects of nature. an uneven mirror, which, mixing its nature with the nature of things, reflects things in a distorted and disfigured form. 6 “Idols of the cave” have entered the minds of people from various current opinions, speculative theories and perverse evidence. People for the most part tend to believe in the truth of the preferred and are not inclined to try in every possible way to support and justify what they have already once accepted, what they are used to. No matter how many significant circumstances that testify to the contrary, they are either ignored or interpreted in a different sense. Often the difficult is rejected because there is no patience to explore it, the sober - because it depresses hope, the simple and clear - because of superstition and worship of the incomprehensible, the data of experience - because of contempt for the particular and passing, paradoxes - because of conventional wisdom and intellectual inertia.7

Also to this innate type of Idols of the Genus, or Tribe, Bacon ranks a tendency to idealization - to assume in things more order and uniformity than it really is, to introduce imaginary similarities and correspondences into nature, to carry out excessive distractions and mentally represent the fluid as permanent. Examples are the Perfect circular orbits and spheres of ancient astronomy, combinations of the four basic states: heat, cold, humidity, humidity, dryness, forming the fourfold root of the elements of the world: fire, earth, air and water. Bacon uses the image of Plato's philosophy to explain the Idols of the Family. “So, some minds are more inclined to see differences in things, others - similarities; the former capture the most subtle nuances and particulars, the latter capture imperceptible analogies and create unexpected generalizations. Some, adherent to tradition, prefer antiquity, while others are completely embraced by a sense of the new. Some direct their attention to the simplest elements and atoms of things, while others, on the contrary, are so amazed at the contemplation of the whole that they are not able to penetrate into its constituent parts. And those and others are pushed by these Idols of the Cave to an extreme that has nothing to do with the actual comprehension of the truth.

It is impossible to exclude innate idols, but it is possible to realize their significance for a person, their character, to prevent the multiplication of errors and to organize knowledge methodically correctly. It is necessary to treat everything critically, especially when investigating nature, one must make it a rule to consider as doubtful everything that has captured and captivated the mind. One must tend to the ideal of clear and critical understanding. About the "Idols of the Square" or "Idols of the Market", Bacon wrote: "The bad and absurd establishment of words besieges the mind in an amazing way." , or denote things that do not exist. When they are included in the language of the researcher, they begin to interfere with the achievement of truth. These include the names of fictitious, non-existent things, verbal carriers of bad and ignorant abstractions.

The pressure of these idols is felt when new experience reveals to words a meaning different from that which tradition ascribes to them, when old values lose their meaning and the old symbolic language ceases to be generally accepted. And then what once united people is directed against their minds.3

Francis Bacon is especially critical of the "Idols of the Theatre" or "Idols of Theories". “These are certain philosophical creations, hypotheses of scientists, many principles and axioms of sciences. They were created, as it were, for a theatrical performance, for a "comedy", for playing in fictional artificial worlds. and are refined and more likely to satisfy the desires of everyone than true stories from history ”2. Those obsessed with this kind of idols try to conclude the diversity and richness of nature in one-sided schemes of abstract constructions and, making decisions from less than they should, do not notice how abstract clichés, dogmas and idols violate and pervert the natural and living course of their understanding.

The products of people's intellectual activity are separated from them and in the future already confront them as something alien and dominating over them. For example, Francis often refers to the philosophy of Aristotle. It is sometimes said that Aristotle only points out the problem but does not give a method for solving it, or that on a certain issue Aristotle publishes a small essay in which there are some subtle observations and considers his work to be exhaustive. Sometimes he accuses him of spoiling natural philosophy with his logic, building the whole world out of categories.3

Of the ancient philosophers, Bacon highly appreciates the ancient Greek materialists and natural philosophers, since they defined “matter as active, having a form, as endowing objects formed from it with this form and as containing the principle of motion.” 4 Also close to him is their method of analyzing nature, and not her abstraction, ignoring ideas and subordinating the mind to the nature of things. But for Bacon, doubt is not an end in itself, but a means to develop a fruitful method of cognition. The critical view was above all a way of freeing oneself from the scholastic mind and prejudices with which the world is burdened. Methodology of natural science, experimental knowledge.

Another source of the appearance of idols is the confusion of natural science with superstition, theology with mythical traditions. This is primarily, according to Bacon, due to those who build natural philosophy on Holy Scripture.5

Of the "revealing of the evidence" Bacon says that "the logic we now have is useless for scientific discovery." 1 Naming his main philosophical work "The New Organon", he, as it were, contrasts it with Aristotle's "Organon", in which the logical knowledge of antiquity has accumulated, containing the principles and schemes of deductive reasoning and the construction of science. Francis Bacon thus wants to convey that the logic of Aristotle is not perfect. If, in a syllogistic proof, abstract concepts are used that do not fully reveal the essence of something, then such a logical organization may be accompanied by the appearance and preservation of errors. This is due to “the illusion of validity and evidence where there is neither.”2

Also criticized are “the narrowness of these schemes of inference, their insufficiency for expressing the logical acts of creative thinking. Bacon feels that in physics, where the task is to analyze natural phenomena, and not to create generic abstractions ... and not to “entangle the opponent with arguments, syllogistic deduction is unable to capture the “details of the perfection of nature”3, as a result of which the true. But he does not consider syllogism absolutely useless, he says that syllogism is unacceptable in some cases, rather than useless at all.4 Find examples of deduction and induction.

Therefore, Bacon concludes that Aristotle's logic is "more harmful than useful"

Attitude towards religion

“Man is called to discover the laws of nature which God has hidden from him. Guided by knowledge, he is likened to the Almighty, who also first shed light and only then created the material world ... Both Nature and Scripture are the work of God, and therefore they do not contradict, but agree with each other. It is unacceptable only to explain the divine Scriptures to resort to the same method as to explain the writings of men, but the opposite is also unacceptable. Bacon was one of the few who gave his preference to the natural. “...Separating the natural science from the theological, asserting its independent and independent status, he did not break with religion, in which he saw the main binding force of society.”1 (op. 27)

Francis Bacon believed that man's deep and sincere relationship to nature brings him back to religion.

Empirical method and the theory of induction

A brief description of the 17th century in the ideas of science can be considered on the example of physics, based on the reasoning of Roger Cotes, who was a contemporary of Bacon.

Roger Cotes - English mathematician and philosopher, famous editor and publisher of Isaac Newton's Principles of Natural Philosophy.1

In his publishing preface to The Elements, Kots talks about three approaches to physics that differ from each other precisely in philosophical and methodological respects:

) The scholastic followers of Aristotle and the Peripatetics attributed special hidden qualities to various kinds of objects and argued that the interactions of individual bodies occur due to the peculiarities of their nature. What these features consist of, and how the actions of the bodies are carried out, they did not teach.

As Kotes concludes: “Therefore, in essence, they did not teach anything. Thus, everything came down to the names of individual objects, and not to the very essence of the matter, and it can be said that they created a philosophical language, and not philosophy itself.

) Supporters of Cartesian physics believed that the substance of the Universe is homogeneous and all the difference observed in bodies comes from some of the simplest and understandable properties of the particles that make up these bodies. Their reasoning would be completely correct if they attributed to these primary particles only those properties with which nature actually endowed them. Also, at the level of hypotheses, they arbitrarily invented various types and sizes of particles, their arrangement, connections, movements.

On their account, Richard Coates remarks: "Those who borrow the foundations of their reasoning from hypotheses, even if everything further were developed by them in the most exact way on the basis of the laws of mechanics, would create a very elegant and beautiful fable, but still only a fable."

) Adherents of experimental philosophy or the experimental method of studying the phenomena of nature also strive to deduce the causes of everything that exists from possibly simple beginnings, but they take nothing as a beginning, except what is confirmed by occurring phenomena. Two methods are used - analytical and synthetic. They derive the forces of nature and the simplest laws of their action analytically from some selected phenomena and then synthetically obtain the laws of other phenomena.

Bearing in mind Isaac Newton, Kots writes: “This is the very best method of studying nature and is adopted primarily over our other most famous author”1

The first bricks in the foundation of this methodology were laid by Francis Bacon, about whom they said: "the real founder of English materialism and all modern experimental science ..."2 His merit is that he clearly emphasized that scientific knowledge stems from experience, not just from direct sensory data, namely from purposefully organized experience, experiment. Science cannot be built simply on the immediate data of feeling. There are many things that elude the senses, the evidence of the senses is subjective, "always correlated with a person, and not with the world." . Bacon proposes compensation for the inconsistency of feeling, and the correction of his errors results in an experience or experiment that is properly organized and specially adapted for this or that investigation. “... since the nature of things reveals itself better in a state of artificial constraint than in natural freedom.”4

At the same time, experiments are important to science that are set up with the aim of discovering new properties, phenomena, their causes, axioms that provide material for a subsequent more complete and deeper theoretical understanding. Francis separates two kinds of experiences - "light-bearing" and "fruitful". This is the distinction between an experiment focused solely on obtaining a new scientific result, from an experiment pursuing one or another direct practical benefit. Asserts that the discovery and establishment of correct theoretical concepts does not give us a superficial knowledge, but a deep one, entails numerous series of the most unexpected applications and warns against premature pursuit of immediate new practical results.5

When forming theoretical axioms and concepts and natural phenomena, one must rely on the facts of experience, one cannot rely on abstract justifications. The most important thing is to develop the correct method of analysis and generalization of experimental data, which will make it possible to penetrate step by step into the essence of the phenomena under study. That method should be induction, but not one that concludes from a mere enumeration of a limited number of favorable facts. Bacon sets himself the task of formulating the principle of scientific induction, "which would produce division and selection in experience and, by proper eliminations and rejections, would draw the necessary conclusions."1

Since in the case of induction there is an incomplete experience, Francis Bacon understands the need to develop effective means that would allow for a more complete analysis of the information contained in the premises of the inductive inference.

Bacon rejected the probabilistic approach to induction. “The essence of his inductive method, his tables of Discovery - Presence, Absence and Degrees. A sufficient number of various cases of some "simple property" (for example, density, heat, gravity, color, etc.) is collected, the nature or "form" of which is sought. Then a set of cases is taken, as close as possible to the previous ones, but already those in which this property is absent. Then - a set of cases in which there is a change in the intensity of the property of interest to us. Comparison of all these sets makes it possible to exclude factors that are not associated with the constantly investigated property, i.e. not present where there is a given property, or present where it is absent, or not enhanced when it is strengthened. By such a rejection, in the end, a certain remainder is obtained, invariably accompanying the property of interest to us, - its "form".

The main techniques of this method are analogy and exclusion, since by analogy empirical data are selected for the tables of the Discovery. It lies at the foundation of inductive generalization, which is achieved through selection, rejection of a number of circumstances from a multitude of initial possibilities. This process of analysis can be facilitated by rare situations in which, for one reason or another, the nature under investigation is more evident than in others. Bacon lists and sets out twenty-seven such pre-eminent instances of prerogative instances. These include those cases: when the investigated property exists in objects that are completely different from each other in all other respects; or, conversely, this property is absent in objects that are completely similar to each other;

This property is observed in the most obvious, maximum degree; an obvious alternativeness of two or more causal explanations is revealed.

Features of the interpretation of Francis Bacon's induction, linking the logical part of Bacon's teaching with his analytical methodology and philosophical metaphysics are as follows: Firstly, the means of induction are intended to reveal the forms of "simple properties", or "nature", into which all concrete physical bodies decompose. For example, not gold, water or air are subject to inductive research, but their properties or qualities such as density, heaviness, malleability, color, warmth, volatility. Such an analytical approach in the theory of knowledge and the methodology of science would subsequently turn into a strong tradition of English philosophical empiricism.

Secondly, the task of Bacon's induction is to reveal the "form" - in peripatetic terminology, the "formal" cause, and not the "acting" or "material", which are particular and transient and therefore cannot be permanently and essentially connected with one or another simple property. .one

"Metaphysics" is called upon to investigate forms "encompassing the unity of nature in dissimilar matters"2, while physics deals with more particular material and active causes that are transient, external carriers of these forms. “If we are talking about the reason for the whiteness of snow or foam, then the correct definition would be that this is a thin mixture of air and water. But this is still far from being a form of whiteness, since air mixed with glass powder or crystal powder in the same way creates whiteness, no worse than when combined with water. It is only an efficient cause, which is nothing but the bearer of the form. But if the same question is investigated by metaphysics, then the answer will be approximately the following: two transparent bodies, evenly mixed together in the smallest parts in a simple order, create a white color. The metaphysics of Francis Bacon does not coincide with the "mother of all sciences" - the first philosophy, but is part of the science of nature itself, a higher, more abstract and deep section of physics. As Bacon writes in a letter to Baranzan: "Don't worry about metaphysics, there will be no metaphysics after the acquisition of true physics, beyond which there is nothing but the divine."4

It can be concluded that for Bacon, induction is a method of developing fundamental theoretical concepts and axioms of natural science or natural philosophy.

Bacon's reasoning about "form" in the "New Organon": "A thing differs from form in no other way than a phenomenon differs from essence, or external from internal, or a thing in relation to a person from a thing in relation to the world."1 The concept of "form" goes back to Aristotle, in whose teaching it, along with matter, the active cause and purpose, is one of the four principles of being.

In the texts of Bacon's works there are many different names of "form": essentia, resipsissima, natura naturans, fons emanationis, definitio vera, differentia vera, lex actus puri. , the immanent cause or nature of its properties, as their inner source, then as the true definition or distinction of a thing, and finally, as the law of the pure action of matter. All of them are quite consistent with each other, if one does not ignore their connection with scholastic usage and their origin in the doctrine of the Peripatetics. And at the same time, the Baconian understanding of form differs in at least two points from that which prevailed in idealistic scholasticism: firstly, by the recognition of the materiality of the forms themselves, and secondly, by the conviction that they are fully knowable.3 Form, according to Bacon, is the material thing itself , but taken in its truly objective essence, and not in the way it appears or appears to the subject. In this regard, he wrote that matter, rather than forms, should be the subject of our attention - its states and action, changes in states and the law of action or movement, “for forms are inventions of the human mind, unless these laws of action are called forms” . And this understanding allowed Bacon to set the task of investigating forms empirically, by the inductive method.

Francis Bacon distinguishes two kinds of forms - the forms of concrete things, or substances, which are something complex, consisting of many forms of simple natures, since any concrete thing is a combination of simple natures; and forms of simple properties, or natures. Forms of simple properties are forms of the first class. They are eternal and motionless, but it is they who are of different quality, individualizing the nature of things, their intrinsic essences. Karl Marx wrote: “In Bacon, as its first creator, materialism still harbors in itself in a naive form the germs of all-round development. Matter smiles with its poetic and sensuous brilliance to the whole person.

There are a finite number of simple forms, and by their quantity and combination they determine the whole variety of existing things. For example, gold. It has a yellow color, such and such weight, malleability and strength, has a certain fluidity in the liquid state, dissolves and is released in such and such reactions. Let us explore the forms of these and other simple properties of gold. Having learned the methods for obtaining yellowness, heaviness, malleability, strength, fluidity, solubility, etc., in a degree and measure specific to this metal, it is possible to organize their combination in any body and thus obtain gold. Bacon has a clear awareness that any practice can be successful if it is guided by the correct theory, and the associated orientation towards a rational and methodologically verified understanding of natural phenomena. “Even at the dawn of modern natural science, Bacon seems to have foreseen that his task would be not only the knowledge of nature, but also the search for new possibilities not realized by nature itself.”1

In the postulate of a limited number of forms, one can see an outline of a very important principle of inductive research, in one form or another assumed in subsequent theories of induction. Essentially adjoining Bacon in this paragraph, I. Newton will formulate his "Rules of inference in physics":

“Rule I. Must not accept other causes in nature than those that are true and sufficient to explain the phenomena.

On this subject, philosophers say that nature does nothing in vain, and it would be in vain to do to the many what can be done to the lesser. Nature is simple and does not luxuriate in superfluous causes of things.

Rule II. Therefore, as far as possible, we must attribute the same causes of the same kind to the manifestations of nature.

So, for example, the breath of people and animals, the falling stones in Europe and Africa, the light of the kitchen hearth and the Sun, the reflection of light on Earth and on the planets.

Francis Bacon's theory of induction is closely connected with his philosophical ontology, methodology, with the doctrine of simple natures, or properties, and their forms, with the concept of different types of causal dependence. Logic, understood as an interpreted system, that is, as a system with a given semantics, always has some kind of ontological prerequisites and, in essence, is built as a logical model of some ontological structure.

Bacon himself does not yet draw such a definite and general conclusion. But he notes that logic must proceed "not only from the nature of the mind, but also from the nature of things." He writes about the need for “a modification of the method of discovery in relation to the quality and state of the subject that we are investigating.”1 Both Bacon’s Approach and all the subsequent development of logic indicate that for significantly different tasks, different logical models are also required, that this is true both for deductive , and for inductive logics. Therefore, under the condition of a sufficiently specific and delicate analysis, there will be not one, but many systems of inductive logics, each of which acts as a specific logical model of a certain kind of ontological structure.2

Induction, as a method of productive discovery, must work according to strictly defined rules, which must not depend in their application on differences in the individual abilities of researchers, "almost equalizing talents and leaving little to their superiority."3

For example, “a compass and a ruler, when drawing circles and straight lines, level the sharpness of the eye and the hardness of the hand. Elsewhere, while regulating cognition with a "ladder" of strictly consistent inductive generalizations, Bacon even resorts to this image: "The mind must be given not wings, but rather lead and heaviness, so that they hold back every jump and flight"4. “This is a very accurate metaphorical expression of one of the main methodological principles of scientific knowledge. A certain regulation always distinguishes scientific knowledge from ordinary knowledge, which, as a rule, is not sufficiently clear and precise and is not subject to methodologically verified self-control. Such regulation is manifested, for example, in the fact that any experimental result in science is accepted as a fact if it is repeatable, if it is the same in the hands of all researchers, which in turn implies standardization of the conditions for its implementation; it also manifests itself in the fact that the explanation must satisfy the conditions of fundamental verifiability and have predictive power, and all reasoning is based on the laws and norms of logic. The very idea of considering induction as a systematic procedure of investigation and an attempt to formulate its exact rules, of course, cannot be underestimated.

The scheme proposed by Bacon does not guarantee the reliability and certainty of the result obtained, since it does not give confidence that the elimination process has been completed. "A real corrective to his methodology would be a more attentive attitude to the hypothetical element in the implementation of inductive generalization, which always takes place here at least in fixing the initial possibilities for culling." Not only Archimedes, but also Stevin, Galileo and Descartes, contemporaries of Bacon, who laid the foundations of a new natural science, followed the method, consisting in the fact that certain postulates or hypotheses are put forward, from which consequences are then derived, verified by experience. Experience that is not preceded by some theoretical idea and its consequences simply does not exist in natural science. In this regard, Bacon's view of the purpose and role of mathematics is such that as physics increases its achievements and discovers new laws, it will need mathematics more and more. But he considered mathematics mainly as a way of completing the design of natural philosophy, and not as one of the sources of its concepts and principles, not as a creative principle and apparatus in the discovery of the laws of nature. He was inclined to evaluate the method of mathematical modeling of natural processes even as an Idol of the Human Race. Meanwhile, mathematical schemes are, in essence, abbreviated records of a generalized physical experiment that model the processes under study with an accuracy that makes it possible to predict the results of future experiments. The ratio of experiment and mathematics for various branches of science is different and depends on the development of both experimental capabilities and the available mathematical technology.

Bringing philosophical ontology into line with this method of new natural science fell to the lot of Bacon's student and "systematist" of his materialism, Thomas Hobbes. “And if Bacon in natural science already neglects the final, goal-oriented causes, which, according to him, like a virgin who has dedicated herself to God, are barren and cannot give birth to anything, then Hobbes also refuses Bacon’s “forms”, attaching importance only to material active causes. one

The program of research and construction of a picture of nature according to the "form - essence" scheme gives way to the research program, but to the "causality" scheme. The general character of the worldview changes accordingly. “In its further development, materialism becomes one-sided...,” wrote K. Marx. - Sensuality loses its bright colors and turns into the abstract sensuality of a geometer. Physical movement is sacrificed to mechanical or mathematical movement; geometry is proclaimed to be the main science.”1 This is how the main scientific work of the century, “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” by Isaac Newton, brilliantly embodied these two seemingly polar approaches – rigorous experiment and mathematical deduction” was ideologically prepared.

“I do not say, however, that nothing can be added to this,” wrote Bacon. “On the contrary, considering the mind not only in its own abilities, but also in its connection with things, it must be recognized that the art of discovery can make progress along with the progress of discoveries themselves.”3

The anti-clerical Reformation in England brought about significant changes in religious consciousness. The country entered its late Renaissance virtually without a dominant religion. By the end of the 16th century, neither officially implanted Anglicanism, nor Catholicism undermined by the Reformation, nor numerous persecuted sects of Protestants and Puritans could claim this. Attempts by the crown to attach the country to a "single religion" remained unsuccessful, and the very fact that the affairs of the church and religion were decided by the secular authorities contributed to the fact that secularization also captured other areas of the spiritual life of society. Human reason, common sense and interest crowded out the authority of the Holy Scriptures and the dogma of the church. Francis Bacon was also one of those who laid the foundation in England for the concept of "natural" morality, the construction of ethics, albeit participatory theology, but mostly without the help of religious ideas, based on rationally understood this-worldly life aspirations and affects of the human personality.

The task of Francis Bacon was, referring to examples of real, everyday life, to try to understand the ways, means and incentives of that human will, which is subject to one or another moral assessment.

Defining the sources of morality, Bacon resolutely affirmed the primacy and greatness of the common good over the individual, active life over the contemplative, public prestige over personal satisfaction.

After all, no matter how dispassionate contemplation, spiritual serenity, self-satisfaction, or the desire for individual pleasure adorn a person’s personal life, they do not stand up to criticism, if only one approaches this life from the point of view of the criteria for its social purpose. And then it will turn out that all these “soul-harmonizing” benefits are nothing more than means of a cowardly escape from life with its worries, temptations and antagonisms, and that they can in no way serve as the basis for that genuine mental health, activity and courage that make it possible to withstand blows. fate, overcome life's difficulties and, fulfilling his duty, fully and socially significant act in this world. and useful."

But in this understanding, the common good was created by the will, mind and calculation of individuals, public well-being was made up of the cumulative desire of everyone for well-being, and outstanding personalities in one way or another received public recognition. Therefore, along with the thesis “the common good is above all,” Bacon defends and develops another one: “man himself is the blacksmith of his own happiness.” It is only necessary to be able to reasonably determine the meaning and value of all things, depending on how much they contribute to the achievement of our goals - mental health and strength, wealth, social position and prestige. And no matter what Bacon wrote about the art of conversation, manners and decorum, about the ability to conduct business, about wealth and expenses, about achieving a high position, about love, friendship and cunning, about ambition, honors and fame, he constantly had in mind and this side of the matter and proceeded in their assessments, judgments and recommendations from the criteria corresponding to it.

Bacon's focus is narrowed and focused on human behavior and its evaluation in terms of achieving certain results. In his reflections there is no self-absorption, softness, skepticism, humor, a bright and independent perception of the world, but only objectivism and a concentrated analysis of what should ensure a person's position and prosperity. “Here, for example, is his essay “On a High Position”. It coincides in theme with Montaigne's essay "On the Shyness of a High Position." The essence of Montaigne's reasoning is this: I prefer to take third rather than first place in Paris, if I strive for growth, then not in height - I want to grow in what is available to me, achieving greater determination, prudence, attractiveness and even wealth. Universal honor, the power of power suppress and frighten him. He is ready to retreat rather than jump over the step determined for him according to his abilities, for every natural state is both the most just and most convenient. Bacon, on the other hand, believes that you do not necessarily fall from any height, much more often you can safely descend. Bacon's attention is wholly devoted to figuring out how to reach a high position and how to behave in order to stay in it. His reasoning is practical. He argues that power deprives a person of freedom, makes him a slave of both the sovereign, and people's rumors, and his own business. But this is far from the most important thing, because the one who has reached power considers it natural to hold on to it and is happy when he stops the harassment of others.1 “No, people are not able to retire when they would like; they do not leave when they should; solitude is unbearable for everyone, even old age and infirmities, which should be covered in the shade; so, old people always sit on the threshold, although they betray their gray hairs for ridicule.

In his essay “On the Art of Commanding,” he advises how to limit the influence of arrogant prelates, to what extent to suppress the old feudal nobility, how to create a counterbalance to it in the new nobility, sometimes self-willed, but still a reliable support for the throne and a bulwark against the common people, what kind of tax policy to support the merchant class. While the English king actually ignored parliament, Bacon, bearing in mind the dangers of despotism, recommended its regular convocation, seeing in parliament both an assistant to royal power and an intermediary between the monarch and the people. He was occupied not only with questions of political tactics and state structure, but also with a wide range of socio-economic measures that England lived at that time, already firmly embarking on the path of bourgeois development. The prosperity of his country, the well-being of its people, Bacon associated with the encouragement of manufactories and trading companies, with the founding of colonies and capital investment in agriculture, with the reduction in the number of unproductive classes of the population, with the eradication of idleness and the curbing of luxury and waste.

As a statesman and political writer, he gave his sympathy to the interests and aspirations of those prosperous strata who were oriented at the same time to the benefits of both commercial and industrial development and the absolutism of royal power, which could both protect against dangerous competitors, and organize the capture of colonial markets, and issue a patent profit monopoly, and provide any other support from above.1

In his essay “On Troubles and Revolts,” Bacon writes: “Let no ruler think of judging the danger of discontent by how just it is; for this would mean to ascribe excessive prudence to the people, while they often oppose their own good ... ". “Skillfully and cleverly to entertain the people with hopes, to lead people from one hope to another, is one of the best antidotes against discontent. Truly wise is that government which knows how to lull the people with hope when it cannot meet their needs.”2

Francis Bacon believed that there are no genuine and reliable moral criteria and everything is measured only by the degree of utility, benefit and luck. His ethics were relative, but they were not utilitarian. Bacon sought to distinguish acceptable methods from unacceptable ones, to which, in particular, he included those recommended by Machiavelli, who freed political practice from any court of religion and morality. Whatever goals people achieve, they operate in a complex, multifaceted world, in which there are all the colors of the palette, there is love, and goodness, and beauty, and justice, and which no one has the right to deprive of this wealth.

For "being itself without moral being is a curse, and the more significant this being, the more significant this curse." Religion, as a firm principle of a single faith, was for him, as it were, the highest moral binding force of society.

In Bacon's "Experiences", in addition to the relative moral consciousness that weighs them down, there is also a human component that changes incomparably more slowly than the specific social and political conditions of being.

mind induction nature scholastic

Conclusion

Getting acquainted with the works and life of Francis Bacon, you understand that he was a great figure, with his head surrounded by the political affairs of his time, a politician to the marrow, who deeply shows the state. Bacon's works are among those treasures of history, the acquaintance and study of which still brings great benefits to modern society.

The work of Bacon had a strong influence on the general spiritual atmosphere in which the science and philosophy of the 17th century were formed.

Bibliography

1) Alekseev P.V., Panin A.V. Philosophy: Textbook - 3rd ed., Revised. and additional - M.: TK Velby, Prospect Publishing House, 2003 - 608 p.

) K. Marx and F. Engels. Soch., v. 2, 1971 - 450 p.

) N. Gordensky. Francis Bacon, his doctrine of method and encyclopedia of sciences. Sergiev Posad, 1915 - 789 p.

4) New large English-Russian dictionary, 2001.<#"justify">6) F. Bacon. Works. T. 1. Comp., general ed. and enter. article by A.L. Saturday. M., "Thought", 1971 - 591 p.

) F. Bacon. Works. T. 2. M., "Thought", 1971 - 495 p.