THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY2 The Lives and Opinions

FRANCIS BACON 93
past had mounted towards the truths that were now taking form out of
the background of medieval verbiage. Sixthly, he would attempt certain
Anticipations of the scientific results which he was confident would come
from the use of his method. And lastly, as Second (or Applied) Philos-
ophy, he would picture the Utopia which would flower out of all this
budding science of which he hoped to be the prophet. The whole would
constitute
ophy.
the Magna Instauratio, the Great Reconstruction of Philos-
47
It was a magnificent enterprise, and except for Aristotle without
precedent in the history of thought. It would differ from every other
philosophy in aiming at practice rather than at theory, at specific concrete
goods rather than at speculative symmetry. Knowledge is power,
not mere argument or ornament; "it is not an opinion to be held . . .
but a work to be done; and I ... am laboring to lay the foundation
not of any sect or doctrine, but of 48
utility and power." Here, for the
first time, are the voice and tone of modern science.
i. THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING
To produce works, one must have knowledge. "Nature cannot be commanded
except by being obeyed." 49 Let us learn the laws of nature, and
we shall be her masters, as we are now, in ignorance, her thralls; science is
the road to Utopia. But in what condition this road is tortuous, unlit,
turning back upon itself, lost in useless by-paths, and leading not to light
but to chaos. Let us then begin by making a survey of the state of the
sciences, and marking out for them their proper and distinctive fields;
let us "seat the sciences each in its proper place"; 50 examine their defects,
their needs, and their possibilities; inaicate the new problems that await
*7 Bacon's actual works under the foregoing heads are chiefly these:
I. De Interpretations Naturae Proemium (Introduction to the Interpretation
of Nature, 1603) ; Redargutio Philosophiarum (A Criticism of Philosophies^
II.
1609).
The Advancement of Learning ( 1603-5) ; translated as De Augmentis Scien-
III.
tiarum, 1622).
Cogitata et Visa (Things
(Thread of the Labyrinth,
Thought and Seen, 1607) ; Filum Labyrintki
1606) ; Novum Organum (The New Organon,
1608-20).
IV. Historia Naturalis (Natural History, 1622); Descriptio Globi Intellectuals
(Description of the Intellectual Globe, 1612).
V. Sylva Sylvarum (Forest of Forests, 1624).
VI. De Principiis (On Origins, 1621).
VII. The New Atlantis (1624).
Note. All of the above but The New Atlantis and The Advancement of Learning
were written in Latin; and the latter was translated into Latin by Bacon and
his aides, to win for it a European audience. Since historians and critics always use
the Latin titles in their references, these are here given for the convenience of the
student.
to Magna Instauratio. ""Plan of the Work." *Adv. of L. 9 vr, St.