Francis Bacon: summarized biography of this thinker and researcher.

A review of the life of this English philosopher interested in scientific progress.

Francis Bacon was an intellectual of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who trained as a philosopher, writer, politician and lawyer. English by origin, he is considered the father of philosophical and scientific empiricism, and he is remembered for great works such as Novum Organum.

In this article we will see a brief biography of Francis Baconas well as some of his most relevant works and contributions to the field of science and philosophy.

Biography of Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was an English philosopher, orator, lawyer, writer and politician. He is considered one of the most influential English thinkers, a pioneer of science, and the father of philosophical and scientific empiricism..

In addition, he made great contributions to three outstanding fields: literature, politics and philosophy. Let's take a look at the most important points of his biography.

His origins

Francis Bacon was born in London (England) on January 22, 1561. His parents were Nicholas Bacon and Anne Cooke Bacon, two renowned figures of the time. Sir Nicholas Bacon was a high magistrate in the government of Queen Elizabeth I, and Anne Cooke Bacon was a very learned and cultured scholar, who made great contributions to English religious literature.

The education that Bacon received was quite puritanical.and it was mainly his mother who instilled these values in him during his first years of life.

Biography

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon began his studies at Cambridge University, where he excelled intellectually.which made Queen Elizabeth I take notice of him.

He also studied at Gray's Inn, a very prestigious bar in London. There, he became a member of the British Parliament in 1584.

He was at Gray's Inn in 1576, where he entered to study law, although he stayed only a few months because he went to France as a member of a diplomatic mission. Thus, Bacon also spent some time living in Paris (France), and was part of the embassy of England.

His political career and titles

On a more political level, Bacon received a knighthood and earned the right to bear the seal of the Crown, after his father died. In fact, Bacon was the first Baron Verulam, the first Viscount of St. Albans and the Chancellor of England (the latter being a political office of the Crown). (the latter being a high-ranking political office).

In addition, he was appointed I Lord of the Privy Seal and extraordinary counselor of the realm by Elizabeth I, and Elizabeth I chose him for the House of Commons. All of them are titles of British royalty and politics. On the other hand, thanks to his numerous contributions, Francis Bacon was decorated with the title of Knight of King James.

Philosophy and science

At that time, science relied heavily on philosophy, especially the ideas of Aristotle and Ancient Greece. Francis Bacon was especially interested in Aristotelian ideas, and that is why he began to study the ideas of Aristotle and Ancient Greece.and that is why he began to study scientific principles based on this philosopher (specifically, on his methodology).

What was Aristotelian methodology based on? That scientific truth would be found if a number of men of intelligence met to debate and discuss a particular subject, over a considerable period of time, in order to reach a consensus based on what was found to be true. to reach a consensus based on what was observed..

However, with experience, Bacon would end up questioning this methodology, and would focus on finding real evidence to demonstrate the "scientific truth".

Contributions

Francis Bacon investigated how to reformulate the techniques of scientific studybecause he saw errors in them.

According to Bacon, knowledge is based on the senses (it is born from them); on the other hand, this author considers that the objective of research should be based on discovering its nature and its associated phenomena.

One of Francis Bacon's most interesting contributions is that of the inductive (empirical) method. in psychology (and in other sciences); this constitutes an instrument for analyzing experience, based on the collection of particular cases of the phenomenon investigated or observed, to subsequently induce a series of conclusions, by means of analogies of the characteristics common to the observed objects. That is, it is based on observing what characteristics or properties are shared by the phenomena under study.

His main works

Some of Francis Bacon's most outstanding works are:

Essays (1597) The Advancement of Knowledge (1605) Indications relative to the interpretation of nature (1620) (Novum Organum)

Novum Organum

Special mention should be made of one of Francis Bacon's most important works: Novum Organum ("Indications concerning the interpretation of nature"), created in 1620. In these writings, Bacon defends that science is the most suitable method for man to gain control over nature..

The aim of the work was to refute Aristotelian ideas, in particular some of the philosopher's works, such as Organon. The Aristotelian ideas are opposed to those of the theoretical-scientific procedure defended by Francis Bacon in this work.

As a positive effect of this work, it is worth mentioning that Novum Organum promoted the existence of precise observation and experimentation in science.

Death

Francis Bacon died in the same city where he was born, London, on April 9, 1626, as a result of pneumonia.

His death was rather curious; he probably caught the pneumonia while stuffing a chicken with snow, for as it was snowing in a storm, he thought the snow would preserve the meat, as salt does. So, as he left his house, while waiting for the chicken to freeze, he caught pneumonia and eventually died.