Tonight's selection, The New Organon, is part of Francis Bacon's project that he dubbed "The Great Instauration." By "Instauration," he means the rebuilding of something that has been lost, in this case humankind's earnest and meaningful pursuit of the natural sciences. He states the work consists of six parts, of which our selection is one, with a plan as below.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
I. The Divisions of the Sciences
II. The New Organon; or Directions concerning the Interpretations of Nature
III. The Phenomena of the Universe, or a Natural and Experimental History for the Foundation of Philosophy.
IV. The Ladder of the Intellect.
V. The Forerunners; or Anticipations of the New Philosophy.
VI. The New Philosophy; or Active Science.
Bacon's project is a harkening back to "The Philosopher" of the Ancient World, Aristotle, whose writings on Logic, or the basis of knowledge, were known as the Organon.
Bacon states in his Prooemium, or preface to the Great Instauration, that he "reasoned thus with himself, and judged it to be for the interest of the present and future generations that they should be made acquainted with his thoughts."
He signs it "Francis of Verulam," his title of nobility.
This material is taken from the Modern Library edition of "The English Philosophers from Bacon to Mill" (New York: 1967)
