Francis Bacon

A SUMMARY

Introduction

Bacon was brought up in a humanist context. This means that his entire education was based on rhetoric which ended up leading Bacon into his various discoveries in science, such as his scientific theory. The following slideshow will describe how it was that he came to question so many aspects of the world he lived in.

The Early Years of Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, born to Sir Nicholas Bacon and his second wife Ann Cooke on January 22nd 1561, had very bad health causing him to be homeschooled originally following a mostly Latin based, medieval curriculum. This continued as Bacon entered Trinity College in Cambridge at age 12. Bacon was exceptionally smart and impressed the Queen into calling him “the young Lord Keeper” at the University of Poitiers where he also spent several years studying. His studies at all these places brought him to believe that many of the methods of research in science and what they were proving were quite mistaken. This became a conflict to him as on of the leading philosophers of the time was Aristotle who Bacon came to aspire after, despite the fact that he disagreed with many of the Aristotelian philosophy. He then went on to study abroad with the English ambassador at Paris, where he spent three years studying language and civil law in Italy, Spain and France. He returned to England in 1579 after his fathers death and due to the little amount he managed to accrue from his father’s wealth he went into debt. Bacon the took up residency in law at Gray’s Inn and made progress in just 5 years moving to a Bencher and giving his first lectures in Lent.

Success and Failure

The next segment of Francis Bacon’s life was the story of how he strived to achieve a threefold goal. He wanted to serve his church, his country, and to discover truth. Originally he applied for a job at a court which he thought would lead him upwards towards his goals but the application failed. He remained at Gray’s Inn until he got accepted into a position as an outer barrister in 1582. He eventually moved on to take a seat in Parliament where he wrote on conditions of the parties in the Church. Yet he still failed to achieve a secure position that would guarantee him success.