Francis Bacon: Essays and Major Works Essay Questions

How does Francis Bacon address the concept of truth and human perception?

Bacon spends time examining the idea of human perception as well as truth, two ideas that are often disparate. Bacon observes that even though humans are aware of their limited perceptibility, they lack knowledge and insights regarding how these limitations play a role in shaping their consciousness. As such, most humans (according to Bacon) are likely lacking knowledge they could otherwise acquire if they were to understand the limitations that exist for them. Additionally, Bacon argues that cultural ideologies as well as the human mind impede one's ability to gain pure knowledge.

Culture and community pose a challenge to Bacon's concept of the philosopher. How does Bacon showcase this tension?

Bacon argues that to become a philosopher in its full meaning, a pursuer of truth in its definite form, one must expect opposition and at times shame from one's own community. Since the community may not be in support of the same pursuits – indeed, they may be actively trying to suppress deeper knowledge due to the conflicts that may arise from it – their support transforms from being beneficial to being a restrictive obstacle. This obstacle has to be cleared for one to think clearly and with no predispositions.

How does Bacon differentiate between his civil essays and his moral essays?

Bacon's essays cover a wide array of subject matter, including "civil" topics like friendship and seditious speech – things that affect societies and their growth – as well as "moral" topics like envy and love – or things that affect the individual. While the original title of Bacon's essay collection was Essays or Counsels, both Civil and Moral, Bacon makes no clear distinction between the two, instead alternating freely between moral and civil concerns. As such, Bacon suggests that these two realms of philosophy are actually intertwined and are oftentimes dependent on one another.

What is Bacon's opinion on poetry?

In The Advancement of Learning, Bacon establishes that there are three fundamental forms of human knowledge: history, poetry, and philosophy. By far, Bacon places the most importance on philosophy, as this is where he sees humans being able to advance the most in terms of knowledge acquisition. While Bacon acknowledges the utility of poetry for its ability to enhance man's imagination, he cautions against placing too much emphasis on poetry as a means of knowledge acquisition. Bacon argues that poetry too often leads to fancy and a detachment from reality, as it focuses on rhetoric and images rather than concrete experience.

What makes Bensalem a utopia in The New Atlantis?

While The New Atlantis is collectively referred to as Bacon's incomplete utopian novel, the word "utopia" never appears in the text itself ("utopia" had entered the English vernacular from Latin when Thomas More wrote his Utopia in 1516). What Bacon describes is nevertheless an ideal society, specifically one that places scientific inquiry at the heart of its prosperity. In Bensalem, conflicts like poverty, competition for resources, and war do not exist, as everything is shared among the people. Similarly, the island's dedication to learning above all else has helped make it the most technologically and philosophically advanced society in the world, even despite its remote location and relatively unknown existence.