Francis Bacon and the Transformation of Early-Modern Philosophy

This ambitious and important book provides the first truly general account of Francis Bacon as a philosopher. It describes how Bacon transformed the values that had underpinned philosophical culture since antiquity by rejecting the traditional idea of a philosopher as someone engaged in contemplation of the cosmos. The book explores in detail how and why Bacon attempted to transform the largely esoteric discipline of natural philosophy into a public practice through a program in which practical science provided a model that inspired many from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. Stephen Gaukroger shows that this reform of natural philosophy was dependent on the creation of a new philosophical persona: a natural philosopher shaped through submission to the dictates of Baconian method. This book will be recognized as a major contribution to Baconian scholarship, of special interest to historians of early-modern philosophy, science, and ideas.

ISBN 0521805368   Pages 262 ISBN13 9780521805360 (What's this?)   Volumes 001 Publisher Cambridge University Press   Weight (grammes) 366 Imprint Cambridge University Press   Published in Cambridge Format Paperback   Height (mm) 228 Publication date 19 Mar 2001   Width (mm) 152 Library of Congress B1198 .G38 2001   Spine width (mm) 19 DEWEY 192   Academic level Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC21

		Acknowledgments
		References to Bacon's works
		Prologue		1
1		The nature of Bacon's project		6
		From arcane learning to public knowledge		6
		A via media		10
		Practical knowledge		14
		The classification of knowledge		18
		Mathematics and practical learning		20
		Eclecticism		28
2		Humanist models for scientia		37
		An education in rhetoric		37
		The office of the philosopher		44
		The reform of law		57
3		The legitimation of natural philosophy		68
		Zealotry and the well-ordered state		68
		The religious vindication of natural philosophy		74
		The political vindication of natural philosophy		83
		The disciplinary vindication of natural philosophy		91
		The utilitarian vindication of natural philosophy		95
4		The shaping of the natural philosopher		101
		The psychology of knowledge		101
		The poverty of antiquity		105
		The interpretation of the past		110
		External impediments and the historicisation of knowledge		114
		'Purging the floor of the mind'		118
5		Method as a way of pursuing natural philosophy		132
		The 'Great Instauration'		132
		Atomism: method and natural philosophy		133
		More...

"...a well-rounded and fairly comprehensive overview of Bacon the philosopher, sufficiently contextualized to make it an excellent, serious introduction to his thought and work." The Philosophical Review "...will certainly stimulate and enrich discussion..." Renaissance Quarterly "Engaging and well-documented..." Canadian Journal of Political Science "All students of Bacon's philosophy of science will want to read Gaukroger's book and will undoubtedly find much in it that is interesting and valuable." Isis "This is a remarkable book...Gaukroger's book is laced with interesting observations and insights." American Historical Review

 Be the first to write a customer review