The Advancement of Learning (Oxford English Texts) - Softcover

Bacon, Francis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198710690 ISBN 13: 9780198710691

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1974

Synopsis

Francis Bacon's The Advancement of Learning (1605) is considered the first major philosophical book written in English. In it, Bacon is concerned with scientific learning: the current state of knowledge, obstacles to its progress, and his own plans for revitalization of schools and universities. Here Bacon sets forth the first account of science as intended for "the relief of man's estate."

With this newly designed and reset edition, this important work is again available in paperback. Difficult and fundamental, The Advancement of Learning helps define the modern era.

"This extraordinary genius, when it was impossible to write a history of what men already knew, wrote one of that which they had to learn." --Diderot

"Bacon was the first to address the issues that have again become so pressing in our time: Why should we pursue scientific progress? What are the implications of modern science for religion and morality? Does technology enhance or disfigure the human soul?...It is therefore hard to imagine a book more attuned to our times." --from the new Introduction by Jerry Weinberger

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a philosopher, statesman, and essayist. He served as the attorney general and Lord Chancellor of England and was the author of Novum Organum.

Jerry Weinberger is Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University.

About this title

Review

While he didn't exactly invent science, Francis Bacon is its best-known early promoter. The Advancement of Learning is his 1605 argument in favour of natural philosophy and inductive reasoning, and is just as vigorous and cogent today. Though using the language of Shakespeare, the book is still largely accessible to modern readers--still, a bit of classical knowledge is helpful. Shaking off the centuries-old domination of Aristotle, Bacon advocated building scientific theories on facts and observations rather than pure reason; little has changed in our approach to understanding the world since then. Of greatest interest to historians and philosophers of science, the book will also appeal to those curious about the underpinnings of today's naturalistic thinking. --Rob Lightner

Review

The OFB includes a great deal of new information concerning the history of the transmission of Bacon's texts, thanks to the progress made in Bacon scholarship ... I cannot imagine a scholar who would not give preference to the convenience and complexity of the new Bacon volumes. (Acta Comeniana)

Besides the texts themselves, the volumes include substantial introductions by the editors, detailed commentary and a useful glossary that gives the modern equivalents of Bacon's terms. Moreover, scholars can consult the meticulous technical descriptions of the texts reproduced and collated. (Acta Comeniana)

The product of thorough, painstaking, and judicious scholarship ... should serve to strengthen the vitality and visibility of the Bacon project, and fulfil the aim of all sound critical editions: to ensure that the work will not need to be redone for a very long time. (Notes and Queries)

This commentary, like the introduction, is underpinned by wide-ranging and sure-footed scholarship. (Notes and Queries)

A thoroughly impressive job ... Kiernan begins his introduction with a fluent and efficient analytic summary of the contents of Bacon's book ... assured and authoritative bibliographical section. (Notes and Queries)

This new edition of The Advancement of Learning is indeed more correct, more faithful, more profitable, and more diligent than any of its predecessors, and it is most warmly welcome. (Review of English Studies)

Many of Kiernan's notes become mini-essays in themselves, striking exactly the right balance between textual, semantic, and cultural elucidation, as well as providing summary guides to current Bacon research. (Review of English Studies)

Kiernan is especially good in tracking classical and contemporary allusions; in situating Bacon on the social and political map of his day; and in discussing Bacon's understanding of humanism, rhetoric, dialectic, and moral philosophy. (Sixteenth Century Journal)

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1974
• ISBN 10: 0198710690
• ISBN 13: 9780198710691
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 324
• Editor: Johnston Arthur