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E211: British Literature to 1760 Sir Francis Bacon Study Questions Alfred J. Drake. Office: Hum. 520 | W 3-4 | ajdrake@ajdrake.com from Essays 1. Bacon explores a variety of topics. Describe his general method for handling those topics. What seems to be the aim of the essays with respect to the ideas Bacon entertains? 2. After you have read the Norton selections from The Advancement of Learning and Novum Organum, reflect upon how Bacon's treatment of his essay topics accords with his views about our tendencies towards misperception (i.e. his theory of the four Idols) and with his advocacy of the scientific method for arriving at truth. from The Advancement of Learning 3. What does Bacon credit Martin Luther with accomplishing in the realm of learning? What broader historical current does Bacon refer to here? 4. On page 1533, what criticism does Bacon level against even those who challenged medieval Scholasticism's tendencies to philosophical hair-splitting and abstraction? How do his remarks on this issue connect with his warnings in Novum Organum about human tendencies towards misperception of real things and events? 5. On 1544, what concession does Bacon offer imagined opponents in his paragraph beginning, "But yet notwithstanding..."? Why do you suppose he would make such a concession? from Novum Organum 6. What are the main Idols of the Tribe, and what is their source? 7. What are the Idols of the Cave, and from what source do they derive? (If you are familiar with Plato's "Parable of the Cave" from Book 7 of The Republic, relate Bacon's term "Idol" to that story about human limitations in discerning truth.) 8. What are the Idols of the Marketplace," and what is their source? What might Bacon say is the proper relationship between words and things? Which kinds of terms are least faulty, and why? 9. What are the Idols of the Theater"? And their source? Why is the term "theater" appropriate here? (Hint: consider Aristotle's definition of drama as an imitative or representational art.) 10. The romantic-era poet William Blake includes Bacon, along with John Locke and Isaac Newton, in his unholy Trinity of atheists and materialists. But how do Bacon's tone and certain specific statements in our selections furnish matter for a defense against such charges? What, according to Bacon, is scientific research and discovery for? In what spirit is it to be carried on? from The New Atlantis 11. In this last section of Bacon's incomplete utopian text, what goal does the member of Solomon's House advance for the various activities he describes? How does this goal relate to the remarks about scientific endeavor in our other Bacon prose selections? 12. What relationship between humans and the natural world is implied by the experimental goings-on at Solomon's House? 13. Bacon is often said to be the founder of modern scientific methodology. But we live in an era in which science is much more developed than it was in Bacon's day; it is much more a part of our lives and expectations than it was for our predecessors. So what do you consider to be the proper role of contemporary science? Have recent advances (the Genome Project, powerful computers, etc.) oustripped our capacity to make scientific research and technology serve us? Or is science still the best way to ameliorate the human condition? Is there any practical alternative? Edition: Abrams, M.H. et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vols. 1A, 1B, 1C. 7th. edition. New York: Norton, 2000. ISBN #'s: 1A = 0393975657, 1B = 0393975665, 1C = 0393975673.
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