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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Farrington
"Knowledge ought to bear fruit in works, that science ought to be applicable to industry, that men ought to organize themselves as a sacred duty to improve and transform the conditions of life.
This idea, great in itself, received such development at his hands that it came in the end to throw light on the course of human history. From the standpoint of his new idea Bacon
passed the whole of human culture under review to see why it had borne so little fruit in works and how it could be improved. The books in which he set forth his proposals are among the great things in world literature.
[...] It was with him a humanitarian ideal. The advocacy of it brought into play all his qualities both of mind and heart. It colored all his thoughts and found expression not only in his writings but in his private meditations and in his prayers." (pp.15-16)
"He was not the pioneer in any field of research, the revealer of any fresh law of nature, the author of any great new hypothesis. He prided himself on a revolutionary advance in method, but posterity will not allow his claim. His achievement lies elsewhere. His special concern was with the place of science in human life. It is as a philosopher of science that he is great. He was also a pioneer of the history of science, understanding it in a special way. He did not see science only, or even primarily, as a record of opinions ; he saw it rather as the record of what those opinions had enabled man to do. His ambition was to systematize and organize the development and application of natural knowledge on a scale never imagined before. With him this idea carried the sanction of religion. In the first chapter of Genesis he read that when God made man He gave him dominion over all creatures. This, in Bacon's opinion, was what knowledge was for. He despised all knowledge that did not help to restore mankind to this dominion.
The seriousness with which his whole personality was en- gaged in his endeavor is one of his greatest qualities. That he often proved himself but a clumsy investigator in the various fields he tried to cultivate does not affect his title to renown. It is true that he was not even abreast of the science of his own day in some of its developments. But his vision of what science could do for mankind was incomparably more comprehensive, more penetrating, and more just than that of any contemporary. Nor was this only an intellectual superiority. In challenging men with such earnestness to win power over nature in order to improve the conditions of human life he kindled a new conscience in mankind.
This was not the mood of the ancient or of the medieval world. Neither ancient Greek philosopher nor medieval Schoolman had in mind the possibility of a drastic improvement in the conditions of human life. Philosophy before Francis Bacon was too often a school of resignation." (p.16)
"Men have been wont to attach supreme importance in history to such political events as the conquests of Alexander the Great or the establishing of the Roman Empire ; or to the emergence of new religions and new philosophies ; or to possible influences of the planets. But here by his mention of empire, sect, and star Bacon challenges politics, conquest, religion, philosophy to show results comparable to those wrought by a few mechanical discoveries of nameless men." (p.17)
"He pleaded for the restoration of what he called "the commerce of the mind with things" (commercium mentis et rei). He was convinced that men must consult nature rather than books if they were to make progress in truth. He pointed out that most of the fundamental inventions had been made in very early times when men had but little learning, and added: "If the truth must be spoken, it was when the rational and dogmatical sciences began that the discovery of useful works came to an end." In earlier and less sophisticated times men had more direct contact with nature. Accordingly Bacon pleaded for the restoration of the commerce of the mind with things, and he did not hesitate to describe this as "the most precious of all earthly things."." (p.18)
"Though Bacon felt in the highest degree the noble ambition to serve all mankind he could not be indifferent to the destiny of his own country.
It should be remembered, then, that it was in the reign of Henry VIII (1509-47) that English naval architects began to mount heavy cannon in the body of their fighting ships. It was the novel possibility of discharging a "broadside" through a row of portholes that not only protected Protestant England from the might of Catholic Spain but was, in the lifetime of Francis Bacon, transferring from Spain to England the control of the seas. Similar developments in the use of artillery on land were being made in the Low Countries about the same time by Simon Stevin (1548-1620) in furtherance of a similar historical purpose, the defence of the Netherlands against Spain.
The importance of the third discovery he mentions, the magnet or compass, was that it stood as the symbol of those great voyages of discovery by which the Portuguese, the Spaniards, and the English had opened up for the first time to Europe the knowledge of half the world. To the sixteenth century these three discoveries—printing, gunpowder, and the compass—were the symbols of what mechanical inventions could effect. But the history of technology was then in its infancy, and though the sixteenth century did not make a bad choice, scholars in the twentieth century would expand and alter the list of epoch-making inventions. The compass by itself would not have been of much use without a change in the whole character of the ship. This change, involving the invention of a true rudder and giving precedence to sails over oars, made possible the voyages of discovery. Transport by land, too, had been revolutionized in the tenth century by the discovery for the first time of an efficient method of harnessing the horse. Gun-powder alone would not have introduced modern artillery had not the application of water power to metallurgy created a new type of forge, which made possible the casting of guns." (p.19)
"The full force of his philosophy of inventions was very imperfectly grasped by his contemporaries. The appreciation of it requires an informed and enlightened imagination, and its lessons are even now being forced upon humanity by the pressure of events. But its practical bearing was immediately apparent. Among his ardent disciples was the mining engineer Thomas Bushell (1594-1674). When Bushell in 1 662 received a parliamentary concession to reopen the Mendip mines, a contemporary writer observes: "The Lord Chancellor Bacon's philosophical theory in mineral discoveries did light the first candle to these and all other mines of like nature."." (p.20)
"Among the books which best indicate the technical revolution that was taking place at this time, the most significant are perhaps those of the Italian Vanoccio Biringuccio and
the German Georgius Agricola (1494-1555). These men, both highly skilled in the arts of mining and metallurgy, were pioneers of industrial capitalism. Biringuccio's book, which is called Pirotechnia, was published in 1540. It be- longed to a very original class of writing, as will immediately be understood when it is mentioned that, although in the hundred years printing had been in existence thirty thousand books had come from the presses, this was the first on metallurgy. Its author was aware of his originality. He boasted of his uniqueness in publishing a book that was not based on other books but was drawn from direct experience of nature. Biringuccio wrote in his native Italian. Agricola, a German (his name was originally Georg Bauer), was more learned and used Latin. His De Re Metallica, which appeared in 1556, is a still more comprehensive treatise on mining and metallurgy.* It is remarkable, among other things, for its hundreds of illustrations of the tools and machines used in the various processes it describes. It was promptly recognized as one of the important books of the age. The French historian Jean Bodin, writing in 1566, claims that in its own sphere it made Aristotle and Pliny look ignorant.
Nor was the book only technical. It developed a vein of philosophy not alien to Bacon's way of thought. It contains an eloquent statement of the significance of the metal industry
for human history, which concludes: "If metals were removed from the service of men, gone would be all the means of protecting and maintaining health and supporting a civilized mode of life. Without metals men would live a brutish and wretched life on the level of wild beasts. Back they would go to their acorns and berries in the woods." Bacon would have found such truths not unworthy of a place in his philosophy.
We might, indeed, be more direct and say that he did find such truths worthy of his consideration. For he was acquainted with the De Re Metallica. He refers to it in the Third Book of his De Augmentis Scientiarum, recognizing its practical importance and paying a compliment to its merits. Whether he also knew Biringuccio's book is not certain, but it is very likely that he did. It too was one of the books of the day. It was brought at once to England by Sir Thomas Smyth, a prominent figure at the court of Elizabeth, and large portions of it were translated and incorporated into two English books just before Bacon was born, as indeed they had been also appropriated by Agricola. Late in life the mining engineer Bushell repeatedly claimed to have derived his theory of mining from Bacon. J. W. Gough in his carefully documented biography of Bushell (The Superlative Prodigal, Bristol, 1932) has doubts about the value of this claim because it was obviously of advantage to Bushell to exploit the name of Francis Bacon. But Bacon did encourage mining and Bushell was his confidential servant and secretary from about his fifteenth year till he was over thirty (1609-1626). The techniques which Bushell claimed that Bacon imparted to him are in no way original. They are those of Biringuccio and Agricola. But there is no reason at all to doubt Bushell's claim that it was from Bacon that he learned the theory of mining contained in their books." (pp.20-21)
"It was inevitable that England should need these books, for England was now embarking on her first industrial revolution, which took place in the hundred years following on the dissolution of the monasteries. In the reign of Henry VIII, which ended in 1547, England was industrially backward. By the reign of Charles I, which ended in 1642, England was leading Europe in mining and heavy industry. The change is said to have been most rapid between 1575 and 1620—that is, between Francis Bacon's fifteenth and sixtieth birthdays." (p.21)
"A Similar economic transformation, reflected in both its technological and its philosophical literature, occurred in France at this time. Since this was the one foreign country Bacon visited we shall conclude this chapter with a brief mention of it. It is said that, while industrial progress in England at this time consisted chiefly in the multiplication of material conveniences, in France it mainly took the form of improvement in the arts and crafts. Typical of this progress was the career of the potter Bernard Palissy (1510-89). Apprenticed first as a glassmaker he next turned his attention to pottery, and the fervor of his quest for the secret of the famous white enamel which eventually won him royal patronage has be- come a popular legend. It is said that he had come so near ruin that he was burning his household goods in order to keep his kilns going. But Palissy was something more than a craftsman. In fact he made striking advances in a variety of different sciences: chemistry, geology, forestry, agriculture. When Francis Bacon, as a youth, was resident at the French court, Palissy, now a famous man, was giving public lectures before distinguished audiences, and it is very likely that Bacon attended some of them. They were novel enough in themselves, but still more novel was the museum of natural objects by which they were illustrated. Of this Palissy says in his Discours Admirables (1550) : "I can assure you, dear reader, that in a few hours, in the very first day, you will learn more natural philosophy from the objects displayed in this museum than you could in fifty years devoted to the study of the theories of the ancient philosophers." Here is a startling assertion of Bacon's first principle, which he called the most important of all earthly things, the commerce of the mind with things." (p.22)
-Benjamin Farrington, Francis Bacon, philosopher of industrial science, New York, Collier Books, 1961 (1949 pour la première édition), 157 pages.
"
-Benjamin Farrington, The philosophy of Francis Bacon. An essay on its development from 1603-1609,
"Knowledge ought to bear fruit in works, that science ought to be applicable to industry, that men ought to organize themselves as a sacred duty to improve and transform the conditions of life.
This idea, great in itself, received such development at his hands that it came in the end to throw light on the course of human history. From the standpoint of his new idea Bacon
passed the whole of human culture under review to see why it had borne so little fruit in works and how it could be improved. The books in which he set forth his proposals are among the great things in world literature.
[...] It was with him a humanitarian ideal. The advocacy of it brought into play all his qualities both of mind and heart. It colored all his thoughts and found expression not only in his writings but in his private meditations and in his prayers." (pp.15-16)
"He was not the pioneer in any field of research, the revealer of any fresh law of nature, the author of any great new hypothesis. He prided himself on a revolutionary advance in method, but posterity will not allow his claim. His achievement lies elsewhere. His special concern was with the place of science in human life. It is as a philosopher of science that he is great. He was also a pioneer of the history of science, understanding it in a special way. He did not see science only, or even primarily, as a record of opinions ; he saw it rather as the record of what those opinions had enabled man to do. His ambition was to systematize and organize the development and application of natural knowledge on a scale never imagined before. With him this idea carried the sanction of religion. In the first chapter of Genesis he read that when God made man He gave him dominion over all creatures. This, in Bacon's opinion, was what knowledge was for. He despised all knowledge that did not help to restore mankind to this dominion.
The seriousness with which his whole personality was en- gaged in his endeavor is one of his greatest qualities. That he often proved himself but a clumsy investigator in the various fields he tried to cultivate does not affect his title to renown. It is true that he was not even abreast of the science of his own day in some of its developments. But his vision of what science could do for mankind was incomparably more comprehensive, more penetrating, and more just than that of any contemporary. Nor was this only an intellectual superiority. In challenging men with such earnestness to win power over nature in order to improve the conditions of human life he kindled a new conscience in mankind.
This was not the mood of the ancient or of the medieval world. Neither ancient Greek philosopher nor medieval Schoolman had in mind the possibility of a drastic improvement in the conditions of human life. Philosophy before Francis Bacon was too often a school of resignation." (p.16)
"Men have been wont to attach supreme importance in history to such political events as the conquests of Alexander the Great or the establishing of the Roman Empire ; or to the emergence of new religions and new philosophies ; or to possible influences of the planets. But here by his mention of empire, sect, and star Bacon challenges politics, conquest, religion, philosophy to show results comparable to those wrought by a few mechanical discoveries of nameless men." (p.17)
"He pleaded for the restoration of what he called "the commerce of the mind with things" (commercium mentis et rei). He was convinced that men must consult nature rather than books if they were to make progress in truth. He pointed out that most of the fundamental inventions had been made in very early times when men had but little learning, and added: "If the truth must be spoken, it was when the rational and dogmatical sciences began that the discovery of useful works came to an end." In earlier and less sophisticated times men had more direct contact with nature. Accordingly Bacon pleaded for the restoration of the commerce of the mind with things, and he did not hesitate to describe this as "the most precious of all earthly things."." (p.18)
"Though Bacon felt in the highest degree the noble ambition to serve all mankind he could not be indifferent to the destiny of his own country.
It should be remembered, then, that it was in the reign of Henry VIII (1509-47) that English naval architects began to mount heavy cannon in the body of their fighting ships. It was the novel possibility of discharging a "broadside" through a row of portholes that not only protected Protestant England from the might of Catholic Spain but was, in the lifetime of Francis Bacon, transferring from Spain to England the control of the seas. Similar developments in the use of artillery on land were being made in the Low Countries about the same time by Simon Stevin (1548-1620) in furtherance of a similar historical purpose, the defence of the Netherlands against Spain.
The importance of the third discovery he mentions, the magnet or compass, was that it stood as the symbol of those great voyages of discovery by which the Portuguese, the Spaniards, and the English had opened up for the first time to Europe the knowledge of half the world. To the sixteenth century these three discoveries—printing, gunpowder, and the compass—were the symbols of what mechanical inventions could effect. But the history of technology was then in its infancy, and though the sixteenth century did not make a bad choice, scholars in the twentieth century would expand and alter the list of epoch-making inventions. The compass by itself would not have been of much use without a change in the whole character of the ship. This change, involving the invention of a true rudder and giving precedence to sails over oars, made possible the voyages of discovery. Transport by land, too, had been revolutionized in the tenth century by the discovery for the first time of an efficient method of harnessing the horse. Gun-powder alone would not have introduced modern artillery had not the application of water power to metallurgy created a new type of forge, which made possible the casting of guns." (p.19)
"The full force of his philosophy of inventions was very imperfectly grasped by his contemporaries. The appreciation of it requires an informed and enlightened imagination, and its lessons are even now being forced upon humanity by the pressure of events. But its practical bearing was immediately apparent. Among his ardent disciples was the mining engineer Thomas Bushell (1594-1674). When Bushell in 1 662 received a parliamentary concession to reopen the Mendip mines, a contemporary writer observes: "The Lord Chancellor Bacon's philosophical theory in mineral discoveries did light the first candle to these and all other mines of like nature."." (p.20)
"Among the books which best indicate the technical revolution that was taking place at this time, the most significant are perhaps those of the Italian Vanoccio Biringuccio and
the German Georgius Agricola (1494-1555). These men, both highly skilled in the arts of mining and metallurgy, were pioneers of industrial capitalism. Biringuccio's book, which is called Pirotechnia, was published in 1540. It be- longed to a very original class of writing, as will immediately be understood when it is mentioned that, although in the hundred years printing had been in existence thirty thousand books had come from the presses, this was the first on metallurgy. Its author was aware of his originality. He boasted of his uniqueness in publishing a book that was not based on other books but was drawn from direct experience of nature. Biringuccio wrote in his native Italian. Agricola, a German (his name was originally Georg Bauer), was more learned and used Latin. His De Re Metallica, which appeared in 1556, is a still more comprehensive treatise on mining and metallurgy.* It is remarkable, among other things, for its hundreds of illustrations of the tools and machines used in the various processes it describes. It was promptly recognized as one of the important books of the age. The French historian Jean Bodin, writing in 1566, claims that in its own sphere it made Aristotle and Pliny look ignorant.
Nor was the book only technical. It developed a vein of philosophy not alien to Bacon's way of thought. It contains an eloquent statement of the significance of the metal industry
for human history, which concludes: "If metals were removed from the service of men, gone would be all the means of protecting and maintaining health and supporting a civilized mode of life. Without metals men would live a brutish and wretched life on the level of wild beasts. Back they would go to their acorns and berries in the woods." Bacon would have found such truths not unworthy of a place in his philosophy.
We might, indeed, be more direct and say that he did find such truths worthy of his consideration. For he was acquainted with the De Re Metallica. He refers to it in the Third Book of his De Augmentis Scientiarum, recognizing its practical importance and paying a compliment to its merits. Whether he also knew Biringuccio's book is not certain, but it is very likely that he did. It too was one of the books of the day. It was brought at once to England by Sir Thomas Smyth, a prominent figure at the court of Elizabeth, and large portions of it were translated and incorporated into two English books just before Bacon was born, as indeed they had been also appropriated by Agricola. Late in life the mining engineer Bushell repeatedly claimed to have derived his theory of mining from Bacon. J. W. Gough in his carefully documented biography of Bushell (The Superlative Prodigal, Bristol, 1932) has doubts about the value of this claim because it was obviously of advantage to Bushell to exploit the name of Francis Bacon. But Bacon did encourage mining and Bushell was his confidential servant and secretary from about his fifteenth year till he was over thirty (1609-1626). The techniques which Bushell claimed that Bacon imparted to him are in no way original. They are those of Biringuccio and Agricola. But there is no reason at all to doubt Bushell's claim that it was from Bacon that he learned the theory of mining contained in their books." (pp.20-21)
"It was inevitable that England should need these books, for England was now embarking on her first industrial revolution, which took place in the hundred years following on the dissolution of the monasteries. In the reign of Henry VIII, which ended in 1547, England was industrially backward. By the reign of Charles I, which ended in 1642, England was leading Europe in mining and heavy industry. The change is said to have been most rapid between 1575 and 1620—that is, between Francis Bacon's fifteenth and sixtieth birthdays." (p.21)
"A Similar economic transformation, reflected in both its technological and its philosophical literature, occurred in France at this time. Since this was the one foreign country Bacon visited we shall conclude this chapter with a brief mention of it. It is said that, while industrial progress in England at this time consisted chiefly in the multiplication of material conveniences, in France it mainly took the form of improvement in the arts and crafts. Typical of this progress was the career of the potter Bernard Palissy (1510-89). Apprenticed first as a glassmaker he next turned his attention to pottery, and the fervor of his quest for the secret of the famous white enamel which eventually won him royal patronage has be- come a popular legend. It is said that he had come so near ruin that he was burning his household goods in order to keep his kilns going. But Palissy was something more than a craftsman. In fact he made striking advances in a variety of different sciences: chemistry, geology, forestry, agriculture. When Francis Bacon, as a youth, was resident at the French court, Palissy, now a famous man, was giving public lectures before distinguished audiences, and it is very likely that Bacon attended some of them. They were novel enough in themselves, but still more novel was the museum of natural objects by which they were illustrated. Of this Palissy says in his Discours Admirables (1550) : "I can assure you, dear reader, that in a few hours, in the very first day, you will learn more natural philosophy from the objects displayed in this museum than you could in fifty years devoted to the study of the theories of the ancient philosophers." Here is a startling assertion of Bacon's first principle, which he called the most important of all earthly things, the commerce of the mind with things." (p.22)
-Benjamin Farrington, Francis Bacon, philosopher of industrial science, New York, Collier Books, 1961 (1949 pour la première édition), 157 pages.
"
-Benjamin Farrington, The philosophy of Francis Bacon. An essay on its development from 1603-1609,
