弗兰克斯 培根.doc

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans,[1] KC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Although his political career ended in disgrace, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution. Bacon has been called the father of empiricism.[2] His works established and popularised inductive methodologies for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method, or simply the scientific method. His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all things natural marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds conceptions of proper methodology today. His dedication probably led to his death, bringing him into a rare historical group of scientists who were killed by their own experiments. Bacon was knighted in 1603, and created both the Baron Verulam in 1618, and the Viscount St Alban in 1621;[3] as he died without heirs both peerages became extinct upon his death. He famously died of pneumonia contracted while studying the effects of freezing on the preservation of meat. Philosophy and works Francis Bacon is the father of the scientific method, which is fundamental to natural philosophy. In his magnum opus, Novum Organum, or new instrument, Francis Bacon argued that although philosophy at the time mainly used deductive syllogisms to interpret nature, mainly owing to Aristotles logic (or Organon), the philosopher should instead proceed through inductive reasoning from fact to axiom to physical law. Before beginning this induction, the enquirer is to free his or her mind from certain false notions or tendencies which distort the truth. These are called Idols (idola),[31] and are of four kinds: Idols of the Tribe (idola tribus), which are c