Knowlege is Power

Francis Bacon

My goal in this essay is to give a critical analysis of Francis Bacon’s philosophical work Of the Great Place. The main idea of the essay is to show the readers the position of men in great places. Francis Bacon discusses the life, duties and behavior of those people who occupy high position in the society. He writes that all the people who live in great places are “thrice servants”. They are servants of the sovereign or state, fame and business. Moreover, they have no freedom although they enjoy power. It is a very interesting idea that powerful people have no liberty. But its true. They have power over other people who occupy a lower position in the society but they “lose power” over themselves. Francis Bacon was born on January 22, 1561 in London, England. Bacon served as attorney general and Lord Chancellor of England, resigning amid charges of corruption. His more valuable work was philosophical. Bacon took up Aristotelian ideas, arguing for an empirical, inductive approach, known as the scientific method, which is the foundation of modern scientific inquiry. Bacon died of pneumonia, with one account by John Aubrey stating that he had contracted the condition while studying the effects of freezing on the preservation of meat. He is buried at St Michael's Church, St Albans, Hertfordshire. Francis Bacon was an English Renaissance statesman and philosopher, best known for his promotion of the scientific method.

Bacon remained in St. Alban's after the collapse of his political career. Retired, he was now able to focus on one of his other passions, the philosophy of science. Philosophy of science is a sub-field of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. From the time he had reached adulthood, Bacon was determined to alter the face of natural philosophy. He strove to create a new outline for the sciences, with a focus on empirical scientific methods—methods that depended on tangible proof—while developing the basis of applied science. Unlike the doctrines of Aristotle and Plato, Bacon's approach placed an emphasis on experimentation and interaction, culminating in "the commerce of the mind with things." Bacon's new scientific method involved gathering data, prudently analyzing it and performing experiments to observe nature's truths in an organized way. He believed that when approached this way, science could become a tool for the betterment of humankind. The phrase "scientia potentia est" (or "scientia est potentia or also "scientia potestas est") is a Latin aphorism meaning "knowledge is power". It is commonly attributed to Sir Francis Bacon, although there is no known occurrence of this precise phrase in Bacon's English or Latin writings. However, the expression "ipsa scientia potestas est" ('knowledge itself is power') occurs in Bacon's Meditationes Sacrae (1597). The exact phrase "scientia potentia est" was written for the first time in the 1668 version of the work Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, who was secretary to Bacon as a young man. Knowledge is power and it can command obedience. A man of knowledge during his lifetime can make people obey and follow him and he is praised and venerated after his death. Remember that knowledge is a ruler and wealth is its subject. The essay Of Great Place written by Francis Bacon, a famous English philosopher and scientist whose aphorism Sciencia Potentia est is known to everyone in the world, represents a lot of interesting philosophical ideas. These ideas can be easily related to the present day principles and concepts. The philosophy of Francis Bacon is concluded in the fact that the major goal of scientific knowledge lies in providing benefit to the humanity. The author of the essay wants those people who became great to have a change in their nature. He wants them to become other men.

In my conclusion, it is necessary to say that such a wise man as Francis Bacon could not only show the strengths and the weaknesses of the great men of the society but also he could give them some recommendations concerning their way of life, their behavior and their principles. He was interested in investigation of the human nature. His natural philosophy was greatly appreciated because he represented absolutely new philosophical ideas concerning the essence of life. Francis Bacon’s essay Of Great Place is one of his bold philosophical works.