We can define Francis Bacon as a philosopher and prophet of technology: he prefigured industrial society, focusing on technology as a tool to “tame” nature.Bacon argues that science should ensure man’s dominion over nature, guaranteeing him to improve his living conditions. Here comes the statement ” knowledge is power “, according to which man’s power over nature is strongly compromised by his knowledge, whoever has the necessary skills can therefore extend his power over the world.
Bacon, thought
Bacon believes that modern inventions (the printing press , the compass, gunpowder) are linked to technical-scientific progress and therefore a testimony to the new mentality of his time.
The relationship between man and nature arises from the contact of the mind with things. According to this, natural philosophy is a productive science and a tool aimed at industrial development (science is a technical knowledge, aimed at “doing”), therefore it ensures happiness for men.
For Bacon, traditional knowledge is sterile and immobile , because it is bound to the principle of authority that requires adapting to the Aristotelian model. The mechanical arts, on the other hand, are in continuous progress. According to Bacon, the moderns surpass the ancients, precisely because they have been able to accumulate more experience.
Bacon also believes that magic and science have irreconcilable purposes, since magic has a language that can be understood only by some, which produces falsehood; science, on the contrary, has a language that is understandable to all and brings well-being and progress.
Bacon and the idols
Bacon says that the human mind must free itself from errors and prejudices (i.e. idols ). He classifies these idols into four species:
- Idola tribus: they belong to all men who refer to natural phenomena according to the sole criterion of their own mental structure.
- Idola specus: they belong to single individuals and come from heredity, environment and education, as if every man had inside himself a cave that refracts and distorts reality.
- Idola fori: they come from the inappropriate use of words, the overlaps that arise from language. They are the idols of the square and can be eliminated only by resorting to reality.
- Idola theatri: derive from ancient philosophical doctrines, the expression of a sterile knowledge that gives life to false ideas and lies.
For Bacon, the correct interpretation of nature is possible on an inductive basis which is based on empirical observation and on the cataloguing of phenomena, that is, the tables , which allow knowledge to proceed gradually while always under experimental control and on the possibility of formulating hypotheses that can be verified with the crucial experiment.
