Bacon: Selected Philosophical Works

"It is a great service to teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate level to have such a fine collection of Bacon’s texts available with an introduction by Rose-Mary Sargent. This is the kind of “essential Bacon” we need for teaching purposes. I was particularly pleased to see the “Natural Histories” and New Atlantis included." —Phillip R. Sloan, University of Notre Dame

SKU
26869g

Francis Bacon
Edited, with Introduction, by Rose-Mary Sargent

1999 - 320 pp.

Ebook edition available for $14.95, see purchasing links below.

Grouped product items
Format ISBN Price Qty
Cloth 978-0-87220-471-3
$45.00
Paper 978-0-87220-470-6
$17.00
Instructor Examination (Review) Copy 978-0-87220-470-6
$3.00

The most comprehensive collection available in paperback of Bacon’s philosophical and scientific writings, this volume offers Bacon’s major works in their entirety, or in substantive selections, revised from the classic 19th century editions of Spedding, Ellis, and Heath. Selections from some of Bacon's natural histories round out this edition by showing the types of compilations that he believed would most contribute to the third part of his Great Instauration.

Each work has a separate brief introduction indicating the major themes developed. In her general Introduction, Sargent gives a biographical sketch of Bacon’s early life, education, and legal career, discusses the major components of his philosophical project, and traces his influence on subsequent natural philosophy. In addition, she looks at the primarily negative evaluations of Bacon’s methodological writings by philosophers of science in the first half of the twentieth century, the reassessments of his works that took place as the influence of logical empiricism declined, and the current revival of interest in Bacon that coincides with the focus on experimental practice today.

A bibliography and index complete the text.

 

Reviews:

“It is a great service to teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate level to have such a fine collection of Bacon’s texts available with an introduction by Rose-Mary Sargent. This is the kind of “essential Bacon” we need for teaching purposes. I was particularly pleased to see the “Natural Histories” and New Atlantis included.”
    —Phillip R. Sloan, University of Notre Dame

 

Contents:

  • General Introduction
  • I. Advancement of Learning , bk. I, bk. 2, Dedication; Summary of bks. 2-9 from De Augmentis
  • II. The Great Instauration, Dedication, Preface, Plan of the Work. New Organon, bk. 1; extensive selections from bk. 2. Parasceve
  • III. Natural Histories, selections from Sylva Sylvarum, Natural and Experimental History, Preface and Rule, History of Dense and Rare, Physiological and Medical Remains
  • IV. New Atlantis
  • Select Bibliography  
  • Index

 

About the Author:

Rose-Mary Sargent is Professor of Philosophy, Merrimack College.