Francis Bacon's Natural History and Civil History: A Comparative Survey

The aim of this paper is to offer a comparative survey of Bacon's theory and practice of natural history and of civil history, particularly centered on their relationship to natural philosophy and human philosophy. I will try to show that the obvious differences concerning their subject matter...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Manzo, Silvia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:Argentina
Institución:Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación
Repositorio:Memoria Académica (UNLP-FAHCE)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar:snrd:Jpr15828
Acceso en línea:https://www.memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/art_revistas/pr.15828/pr.15828.pdf
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Filosofía
Causes
Civil history
Civil philosophy
Francis Bacon
Historiography
Moral philosophy
Natural history
Natural philosophy
Precepts
Descripción
Sumario:The aim of this paper is to offer a comparative survey of Bacon's theory and practice of natural history and of civil history, particularly centered on their relationship to natural philosophy and human philosophy. I will try to show that the obvious differences concerning their subject matter encompass a number of less obvious methodological and philosophical assumptions which reveal a significant practical and con ceptual convergence of the two fields. Causes or axioms are prescribed as the theoretical end-products of natural history, whereas precepts are envisaged as the speculative outcomes derived from perfect civil history. In spite of this difference, causes and precepts are thought to enable effective action in order to change the state of nature and of man, respectively. For that reason a number of common patterns are to be found in Bacon's theory and practice of natural and civil history.