New Atlantis and The Great Instauration E-Book

Francis Bacon

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Crofts Classics
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 291

Beschreibung

This richly annotated second edition of the now-classic pairing of Bacon's masterpieces, New Atlantis and The Great Instauration features the addition of other works by Bacon, including "The Idols of the Mind," "Of Unity in Religion" and "Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates," as well a Summary of the each work and Questions for the reader.

• Includes works new to the second edition, including "The Idols of the Mind," "Of Unity in Religion," and "Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates"
• Updates the layout of the previous edition with a more generous interior design, making this work more student-friendly and easier to navigate in the classroom
• Each work is introduced and subsequently discussed, revealing the importance of Bacon’s work to his contemporaries as well as to modern readers
• Includes a comprehensive introduction and annotations throughout the text; as well as an appendix of Principal Dates in the Life of Sir Francis Bacon; a selected bibliography; and synopses and questions to accompany each work

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Series Page

Title Page

Copyright

Preface: Why a Second Edition?

Acknowledgments

Note on the Texts

Principal Dates in the Life of Sir Francis Bacon

Introduction to the Second Edition

The Great Instauration

Proœmium

Epistle Dedicatory

Preface

The Plan of the Work

The Idols of the Mind

Synopsis

Questions

New Atlantis

Of Unity in Religion

Synopsis

Questions

Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates

Synopsis

Questions

On Bacon's New Atlantis

Bibliography

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Part 1

Chapter 1

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Crofts Classics Series

Francis Bacon:

New Atlantis and the Great Instauration

, Second Edition, edited by Jerry Weinberger

The Constitution of the United States and Related Documents

, edited by Martin Shapiro

Pierre Corneille:

Le Cid

, edited by John Lapp

Hamilton, Madison, Jay:

Selections from The Federalists: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States

, edited by Henry Steele Commager

Thomas Jefferson:

Selected Writings

, edited by Harvey C. Mansfield

John Locke:

Second Treatise of Government

, edited by Richard H. Cox

Niccolò Machiavelli:

The Prince

, edited by T. G. Bergin

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels:

The Communist Manifesto: With Selections from the Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte and Capital by Karl Marx

, edited by Samuel H. Beer

John Stuart Mill:

On Liberty

, edited by Alburey Castell

John Milton:

Areopagitica and Of Education: With Autobiographical Passages from Other Prose Works

, edited by George H. Sabine

John Milton:

Samson Agonistes and Shorter Poems

, edited by A. E. Barker

Thomas More:

Utopia

, edited by H.V.S. Ogden

Blaise Pascal:

Selections from The Thoughts

, translated by Arthur H. Beattie

Plato:

The Republic

, translated by Raymond Larson with an Introduction by Eva T. H. Brann

Plato:

The Symposium and The Phaedo

, translated by Raymond Larson

George Bernard Shaw:

Major Barbara

, edited by Elizabeth T. Forter

Adam Smith:

Selections from The Wealth of Nations

, edited by George J. Stigler

Sophocles:

Oedipus the King and Antigone

, translated by Peter D. Arnott

August Strindberg and Henrik Ibsen:

Ghost Sonata and When We Dead Awaken: A Dramatic Epilogue in Three Acts

, edited by Thaddeus L. Torp

Voltaire:

Candide or Optimism

, edited by Norman L. Torrey

FRANCIS BACON

New Atlantis and The Great Instauration

Second Edition

Edited by

Jerry Weinberger

This second edition first published 2017© 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Edition History: Harlan Davidson, Inc. (1e, 1980; revised edition, 1989)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626, author. | Weinberger, Jerry, 1944- editor. | Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626. New Atlantis. | Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626. Instauratio magna. English.

Title: New Atlantis ; and, The great instauration / edited by Jerry Weinberger.

Description: Second Edition. | Hoboken : Wiley, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015049558 | ISBN 9781119097983 (cloth) | ISBN 9781119098027 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Philosophy--Early works to 1800. | Philosophy of nature--Early works to 1800. | Science--Philosophy--Early works to 1800. | Utopias--Early works to 1800.

Classification: LCC B1155 2016 | DDC 100--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015049558

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover image: Portrait of Francis Bacon by Paul van Somer, Di Agostini Picture Library/Getty Images

Set in 10/12 pt SabonLTStd-Roman by Thomson Digital, Noida, India

1 2017

Preface: Why a Second Edition?

The Crofts Classics edition of Sir Francis Bacon's New Atlantis and The Great Instauration has been in classroom use since the late 1970s, having been revised to correct typography in 1980. Since those early years much scholarship, including some of my own, has been published on Bacon in general and on these two texts. I therefore thought a significantly revised second edition was in order, especially since some of my earlier conclusions about these works of Bacon had changed, even if only slightly.

Given the opportunity to bring a new edition into print with Wiley, I thought it best to increase the amount of material in order to provide student-readers wider context in which to consider Bacon's project as a whole and New Atlantis in particular. To this end I decided first to provide the aphorisms on the Idols of the Mind from The Great Instauration: Novum organum Book One. The purpose of this addition is to make clear how much Bacon thought the problems of human reason resulted from reason's inherent weaknesses, not just the weight of obscure traditions. In order to broaden the political context for New Atlantis I have included two of Bacon's Essays: “Of Unity in Religion” and “Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates.” These two essays, along with reference in the interpretive essay to Bacon's 1622 The History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh, link Bacon's utopian fable to some of his most concrete considerations of practical political life, especially as regards religion and war. I decided as well to place the interpretive essay on New Atlantis and Bacon's essays at the end of the volume, as it will be more useful to students after they have read Bacon's texts.

Acknowledgments

For his warm and helpful support for this second edition I would like to thank Andrew J. Davidson, Senior Editor (History, Social Sciences & Humanities) at John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The project could not have gone forward without the indispensable help of Project Editor Julia Kirk and Editorial Assistant Maddie Koufogazos. Project Manager Ian Critchley did a masterful job overseeing the copy editing, typesetting, and proofreading stages of production. My wife Diane, as usual whenever I'm absorbed in a book project, put up with much neglect while I worked on this new edition. Her cheerfulness during my distraction never fails to amaze.

Note on the Texts

The text of the New Atlantis is reprinted from the widely respected, once standard edition of Bacon's works by Spedding, Ellis, and Heath. The original spelling and punctuation have everywhere been retained. The New Atlantis was first published by Rawley in 1627, after Bacon's death, and no original manuscript of the work remains. All the editions of the New Atlantis since 1627 have been reprints of Rawley's first edition, and fortunately there are no serious variations in the editions. The 1627 edition has “Solamona” and “Salomon's House,” while the 1658 and 1670 editions, among others, have “Salomona” and “Solomon's House.” Spedding follows the 1627 edition and is supported in this choice by the Latin translation. Although Spedding is probably correct, the variation makes no difference at all in the meaning of the text. The 1627 and 1670 editions have “It so fell out, that there was in one of the boats, one of our wise men of the society of Salomon's House …” while the 1658 edition, which Spedding follows, has “It so fell out, that there was in one of the boats one of the wise men of the society of Solomon's House …” (see p. 74, below). In this instance, Spedding is perhaps wrong, since the 1627 and 1670 texts are supported by the Latin translation. But Spedding's text is not emended in this volume, because, again, the variation makes no difference at all in the meaning of the text. The 1627 edition and Spedding have “came aboard” (see p. 64, below), while the 1658 edition has “made aboard”; and the 1627 edition has “that we knew he spake it …” (see p. 77, below), while the 1658 edition and Spedding have “that we knew that he spake it. …” These minor variations require no emendation. No critical problems in the text have so far been discovered that would warrant rejecting Spedding's text as the standard edition of the New Atlantis. The Great Instauration was published originally in Latin in 1620 as Instauratio magna. The translation used in this volume for the preliminaries and the aphorisms of Novum organum on the Idols of the Mind is Spedding's widely reprinted translation. Although Spedding's translation was long considered to be the standard, it is sometimes loose, and two important corrections have been noted (see pp. 21, 32, below). Volume XI of the Oxford Francis Bacon, edited by the late Graham Rees, will doubtless become the standard and, it is to be hoped, widely reprinted translation and edition. I have referred to it as necessary for this classroom edition.

Principal Dates in the Life of Sir Francis Bacon

1561

Born in London, son of Lord Keeper of the Seal.

1573–1575

Studied at Cambridge.

1576

Enrolled at Gray's Inn, where he studied for less than one year.

1582

Became a barrister.

1584

Sat in the Commons. Bacon was an influential member of the House of Commons for the next thirty-six years.

1597

Essays

.

1603

Knighted by James I.

1605

Advancement of Learning

.

1612

Essays

, enlarged.

1613

Appointed Attorney General.

1618

Made Lord Chancellor; created Baron Verulam.

1620

The Great Instauration: Novum organum

.

1621

Created Viscount St. Albans; impeached for accepting bribes.

1622

The History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh

.

1624

Most likely date by which Bacon had written

New Atlantis

.

1625

Essays

, greatly enlarged.

1626

Died April 9.

1627

New Atlantis

published.

Introduction to the Second Edition

Along with Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Descartes, Francis Bacon was one of the founders of modern thought. These thinkers coupled realistic politics with a new science of nature in order to transform the age-old view of humanity's place in the world. They contended that once the efforts of the human intellect were directed from traditional concerns to new ones—from contemplation to action, from the account of what people ought to do to what they actually do, and from metaphysics to the scientific method for discovering natural causes—the harsh inconveniences of nature and political life would be relieved and overcome. No longer to be revered or endured, the realms of nature and society would become the objects of human control.