Francis Bacon and the Reformation Spirit

As one of the “modern” philosophers, Francis Bacon is known for proposing a total reformation of human knowledge, especially in the study of nature. What made him think of such a grandiose project? In this paper, I will investigate how he became committed to the reformation of human knowledge. Bacon’s vision for the reformation of human knowledge is first justified by the way he was brought up as a would-be elite in the English government, but also by his unique religious identity. He was raised by his pioneering Puritan mother, but became distasteful of the religious disputes of the time, as he had close ties with French Huguenots during the tumultuous French Wars of Religion. Based on his Protestant identity, he built his self-identity as a pioneer who has to make a change in the history of humanity. Bacon was in an optimal position to distill the outcome of the Reformation, and to envision what kind of reformation was truly necessary for humanity. I argue that Bacon’s “new philosophy” is built upon such historical awareness, which was shaped by his experience of living through the religious turmoil of the sixteenth century.論文/Article