In this article, we are talking about what knowledge is power means and the significance of Bacon's "knowledge is power". This was quoted by Francis Bacon in his book ‘Meditations Sacrae and Human Philosophy in 1597.
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The Significance of Bacon's "Knowledge is Power"
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a British philosopher between the 16th and 17th centuries and the founder of empiricist philosophy. At the time he lived in Europe, Europe had shaken off the shadow of the Middle Ages.
Although the most glorious period of the Renaissance has passed, its afterglow has not been exhausted, and social productivity and science and technology have made great progress. Such a historical background puts a deep mark on Bacon's philosophy.
Bacon was born into a new aristocratic family that developed during the Reformation Movement, and his father was the king's minister in charge. He entered the University of Oxford when he was 12 years old.
After graduating from the university, he began to work in politics. He successively held important positions such as deputy attorney general and attorney general. In 1617, he was the minister of the seal and the justice of 1618.
In the same year, he was named the baron of Verulam (Verulam). , Canonization of St. Albans (St. Albans) Viscount in 1621.
When he was proud of his officialdom, he was suddenly charged with taking bribes and was sent to the Tower of London but was released by the king's order four days later. His main works include: "Academic Progress", "New Tools", "New Big West Island" and so on.
Bacon's greatest contribution to philosophy lies in putting forward a series of principles of materialist empiricism; formulating a systematic inductive logic, emphasizing the role of experiment in cognition.
Marx and Engels called Bacon the first founder of British materialism; It is the true ancestor of the entire experimental science, which is a scientific summary of the characteristics of Bacon's philosophy.
Bacon believed that the world is an objective existence independent of human will, and human knowledge (cognition) can only be obtained from the objective outside world through perceptual experience.
He said: Man is the servant and interpreter of nature, so all he can do and understand is what he sees in fact and thought of natural processes.
He believes that the authenticity of cognition and the authenticity of existence are the same, the difference between them is only direct light and reflected light, which is a fairly thorough materialist theory of reflection.
Why does people's cognition have to start from the experience? Because in Bacon's view, objective external things can only be perceived by people through their senses.
In his words, the individual first stimulates the senses, the senses It seems to be a sane entrance and gateway. It is worth noting that although Bacon emphasized the importance of perceptual experience for human understanding, he did not make this point absolute.
He only emphasized that the senses are a necessary channel for people to understand the outside world, but did not say that they are obtained through the senses. Knowledge is correct, not to mention that this kind of knowledge is the whole knowledge.
On the contrary, he believes that the senses have their own limitations. For example, the senses may not be able to clearly understand objects that are not very visible, too small, or too far away in space.
Therefore, he said: The senses are a measure of everything. The scale is a big mistake. This passage is aimed at the proposition that man is the yardstick of all things put forward by the ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras.
It can be seen from this that Bacon is indeed a profound philosopher. In the past, we often had a misunderstanding that Bacon only emphasized perceptual knowledge and completely ignored rational knowledge.
This is not the case. We can see this clearly through the metaphor he used. He said that bees collect nectar from flower beds and field flowers. After bees collect pollen, they must process and make their own to make sweet and delicious honey.
The same is true for people's knowledge. Raw materials can only be obtained from the outside world through the senses, but this does not mean that they have obtained real knowledge.
People must also use their own brains to change and digest the materials obtained from the outside world and save them in a Reasonable so that real knowledge can be formed.
It is especially commendable that Bacon attaches great importance to the role of scientific experiments in understanding. This has something to do with Bacon not only being a philosopher, but also a scientist.
He believes that experiment is different from experience. Experience is formed naturally, while the experiment is controlled by people. Through scientific experiments, people can often obtain knowledge that cannot be obtained from experience. The mysteries of nature are better than technical interventions.
Another characteristic of Bacon's epistemology is that he believes that to understand nature, it is necessary to remove all kinds of mental obstacles and achieve intellectual liberation.
In his view, people’s cognition errors come from two aspects, namely, they come from feelings and their minds, and mental errors have a greater impact on human cognition.
He said: "The mind can't be compared with the nature of a clear and clean mirror, on which the light of things can be reflected at its true angle of incidence; no, it is rather a bewitched mirror if it is not relieved. The magic barrier is full of superstition and deceit to restore to its original state.”
From the mental barrier, Bacon pointed out that there are four types: racial illusion, cave illusion, market illusion, and theater illusion. Racial illusion refers to the common mistakes that human beings make common; cave illusion means that someone confuses the theories that they have imagined, forcing objective things to conform to his thinking; market illusion refers to the mistakes caused by inappropriate use of concepts and terminology.
Especially when the objective things have changed, and the original concepts and terminology used are too late to make corresponding changes, and there is a disconnect between the things it is trying to explain, it is more likely to make this kind of mistake; theater illusion refers to blind belief in traditions Here, Bacon pointed his criticism at the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, which had a significant influence in the history of European philosophy.
Bacon’s theory of the four illusions was inherited from the famous nominalist philosopher Rogier Bacon in the Middle Ages.
Rogier believes that there are four obstacles to understanding:
- There is no authority with strength and strength;
- Inheritance and habit Power;
- The prejudice of the ignorant;
- The ignorance concealed under the mask of cleverness.
Of course, Francis Bacon’s point of view is a step further than Roger's analysis of the four cognitive obstacles, and it is more specific and more detailed.
Above, we have made a brief introduction to Bacon's empiricism. It can be seen from this that Bacon attaches importance to perceptual experience and scientific experimentation.
It is the opposite of medieval theology and scholastic philosophy emphasizing enlightenment and emphasizing faith. His philosophy is essentially opposed to theology and scholastic philosophy.
This can also be seen from his proposition that "knowledge is power". For a long time, many books and essays on Bacon have mentioned the proposition "Knowledge is power", but in which book did Bacon put forward this proposition, there is no question.
Over time, people even doubt that Bacon has any This proposition has not been put forward. Not long ago, I read the "History of World Civilization" by American scholar Will Durant and found that there are indeed no existing works by Bacon such as "Academic Progress", "New Tools", and "New Big West Island".
This proposition, but this sentence is left in the fragment of his "Meditations Sacrae" ("Meditations"), its Latin is: "Ipsa Scientia protests est" ("Knowledge is power").
This "Meditation" has not been published publicly, so some people only know that Bacon said that "knowledge is power", but it is not known where they said it.
Bacon-knowledge is power-Knowledge is King meaning
Knowledge is power, and Truth is the daughter of time, not authority. These are two well-known sayings made by the outstanding materialist philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon in the 17th century.
He is honored as an epoch-making figure in the history of philosophy and science among the giants of the Renaissance. Marx called him the true ancestor of British materialism and the entire modern experimental science.
Bacon was born on January 22, 1561, in a family of officials in London. His father was Queen Elizabeth Minister of the Seal. He had studied law at Cambridge University. His ideological tendency was progressive and he opposed the Pope's interference in Britain's internal affairs.
Mother is a well-known talented woman, she masters Greek and Latin skillfully and is a believer in Calvinism. A good family education made Bacon mature earlier and showed extraordinary intelligence in all aspects.
At the age of 12, Bacon was sent to Trinity College, Cambridge University for further studies. After studying at Cambridge University for three years, Bacon came to France as an attaché to the British ambassador to France, Sir Amias Paulet.
In the two and a half years of living in Paris, he traveled almost all over France, was exposed to many new things, and absorbed many new ideas, which played a great role in the formation of his worldview. In 1579, Bacon's father suddenly died of illness, and Bacon's life began to fall into poverty.
From then on, he wanted to make a difference in politics and ran around, but he still had no ambitions. During this period, Bacon became more mature in thought.
He was determined to reform all knowledge that was divorced from reality and nature and introduced empirical observations, factual basis, and practical effects into epistemology. This great ambition is the main goal of his great rejuvenation of science, and the ambition he has worked hard for all his life.
In 1602, Elizabeth died and James I succeeded. Because Bacon once advocated the merger of Scotland and England, he was highly praised by James. Bacon was therefore knighted in 1602, was appointed as James's adviser in 1604, and was appointed as deputy attorney general in 1607.
He was appointed chief prosecutor in 1613, advisor to the Privy Council in 1616, promoted to Minister of the Seal in 1617, and promoted to the mainland official of England in 1618, conferred the title of Baron of Verulam, and in 1621 it was conferred the title of Austria.
Viscount Albans. But Bacon's talent is not in state affairs but in the search for scientific truth.
During this period, he made great achievements in academic research and published many books. In 1621, Bacon was accused of corruption and bribery by Congress. He was fined 40,000 pounds by the High Court and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Although both fines and imprisonment were exempted, Bacon was ruined because of this. Since then, Bacon ignored political affairs and began to concentrate on theoretical writing. Bacon devoted himself to "The Great Renaissance of Academics" all year round.
The second part of "The Theory of New Instruments" was published in 1620. This is a work with great influence in the history of philosophy of science. Bacon is a controversial and important figure in the history of science.
But as a philosopher of science, Bacon's contribution to history cannot be ignored. He is the main representative of the new materialist philosophy to guide the development of science, and he is the first person to realize the historical significance of science and its important position in human life.
Francis Bacon is a materialist philosopher. In his scientific career, he did not engage in specific research. In his own words, he wanted to be a scientific Columbus. He mainly expounded this view in his book "Academic Progress" published in 1605.
Under the leadership of this viewpoint, Bacon proceeded from philosophical principles to in-depth research and discussion of scientific method issues. First, he clearly pointed out that the goal of science is to use new discoveries and inventions to improve human life.
This is one of the outstanding features of his philosophy. For this reason, he put forward the famous slogan "Knowledge is power".
In the great book "The Great Renaissance of Academics", Bacon expounded a series of his epistemology about science. The second part, "On the New Tools", is the core of this work. Bacon believes that the academic tradition at that time was poor because of the loss of contact between academics and experience.
He advocated that scientific theory and science and technology should complement each other. He once listed a list of 130 topics and methods of operation that he thought were worth studying and asked James I to issue an order to collect this knowledge.
In fact, he only got very limited information. On this basis, he put forward a series of views and propositions about science. For example, he proposed that the essence of heat is motion because when there is heat, there is always motion.
He also believes that the cause of the sensible thermal effect is the movement of the particles of the object under the phenomenon, which has the characteristics of atoms and so on. Francis Bacon’s philosophy is materialistic. He opposed scholastic philosophy and idealism.
He strongly criticized the scholastic philosophy and advocated breaking "idols" and eradicating all kinds of prejudices and fantasies.
He advocated the theory of double truth and emphasized that the development of natural science occupies an important position in human life. He believes that nature is material, and that matter is diverse and dynamic.
Humans master knowledge in order to understand and conquer nature. He believes that all knowledge comes from feeling, and feeling is reliable. Bacon's scientific method is based on experimental qualitative and induction.
The progressive side of its thinking reflects the requirements of the British bourgeoisie for the development of science during the ascending period. But his theory is also full of theological incompleteness, such as the existence of a "rational soul".
He disagrees with the use of mathematics and deduction in scientific methods, and his views have a great influence on mechanical materialism.
Francis Bacon was the first philosopher to put forward the principle of empiricism in the history of modern philosophy. He attached importance to the role of sensory experience and inductive logic in the process of cognition and created a new era of empirical philosophy that uses experience as a means to study perceptual nature.
He played a positive role in promoting the establishment of modern science and contributed to the history of human philosophy and science. Both have made significant historical contributions.
For this reason, Russell respectfully called Bacon "a pioneer in the logical organization of scientific research procedures." Francis Bacon’s works have long attracted the interest of historians.
As a British justice, he was the chief political designer of James I's parliamentary program until he was found to have taken bribes in 1623. He has always been highly respected by literary critics for his "Anthology of Essays" and historical dramas, but he is mainly devoted to the innovation of natural knowledge.
Indeed, his unfinished "Great Renaissance" had a very important influence in the second half of the century, so one can safely assume that much of the work carried out in the scientific societies and academies that had just emerged at the time was affected by " The inspiration of "Bacon".
In Memory of Bacon: Experts Interpret the Realistic Significance of "Knowledge is Power"
Respect for knowledge, science, and talents is the most important inspiration left to contemporary people from Bacon's thesis that "knowledge is power".
Bacon was called "the true ancestor of British materialism and the entire modern experimental science" by Marx.
He put forward the view that "knowledge is power" hundreds of years ago, but "it still has a very important practical significance today."
Bacon-knowledge is power-Knowledge itself is power meaning
Before the Renaissance, scholastic philosophy had always been in a dominant position. Many scholastic philosophers sat on the road and divorced from reality, turning the ideological achievements of the ancients into dogmas that restrained academic progress.
In this regard, Bacon intends to flex and be in vain. In the preface of New Tools, he said that he will open up a new path for understanding, and this new path has never been walked or known by the ancients. That is to say, he must start at a new starting point. To construct a scientific knowledge system.
In On Academic Progress, Bacon made a demarcation definition of the overgrown knowledge field and proposed a new scientific classification principle and a new structure of knowledge system. He believes that human spiritual abilities can be divided into memory, imagination, and reason.
As a specific spiritual activity of human beings, science should also be divided into history, poetry, and philosophy (history includes natural history, political history, church history, and history). In academic history, poetry includes narrative poems, dramatic poems, and allegorical poems, and philosophy includes natural philosophy, human philosophy, and natural theology).
Since people's spiritual abilities cannot be separated, science must be a unified knowledge system. Bacon pointed out that there are two ways to truth or knowledge. One way is to fly from the senses and special things to the universal principle, that is, to discover some axioms through principled judgment; the other way is to start from the senses and special things.
Introduce some principles, through gradual and uninterrupted ascent, and finally reach the universal principle. Bacon attaches great importance to scientific experiments and methods, telling us first to light a candle, and then use the candlelight to illuminate the road.
In New Tools, he emphasized the scientific induction method, pointing out that the induction method is a proper method to find axioms and concepts from things, and it is also an important tool for correct thinking and truth exploration.
He advocated that scientific work should not only be like spiders drawing silk from their own belly, nor should they only collect and use like ants. Instead, they must collect materials from flowers for sorting and digestion like bees, so as to produce sweetness. Of honey.
These views of Bacon are extremely creative, but he paid attention to the inductive method and despised the deductive method, and did not pay enough attention to the latest scientific achievements at that time. Therefore, his philosophy was incomplete in many aspects.
Despite this, Russell still praised him as the founder of modern induction, a pioneer in the logical organization of scientific research procedures, and a permanent place in the history of philosophy. As the creator of the motto Knowledge is power, Bacon fully affirmed and praised the function and value of knowledge.
He believes that knowledge is not only the driving force that promotes a strong country and realizes self-improvement of human nature but more importantly, knowledge is the power to understand and control nature.
Therefore, in his view, even in ancient times, the significance of scientific and technological inventions was far above the monarch's cultural and martial arts. People respected inventors as gods, but they were nothing more than the establishment of a nation, legislators, and those who overthrew tyrants.
The title of hero or demigod is just a reflection of the wisdom of the ancients because the monarch's merits are often only effective for a time and place, and scientific and technological knowledge can transcend time and space to permanently benefit mankind.
In addition to the above-mentioned maxims, The Collection of Bacon Essays is also widely known and loved by readers. This book fully expresses the author's profound insights and insights into the various phenomena of society and life and demonstrates the authors writing style and literary charm.
These essays draw on the best of others and include various characteristics of the famous artists at the time. They are rich in words, concise and concise, interesting, sharp, sharp, elegant, and calm. From the day it came out, this book has been very popular.
The first edition of this book has only ten articles, the second edition has increased to 38 articles, and the finalized edition has 58 articles. Oliver Creighton praised this book as one of the few world books.
This book is not written for one country, but for all nations; it is not written for one era, but for Made for all times. The key reason why The Bacons Essays is highly regarded is that it contains extremely high life wisdom. No matter what situation you are in, you can find things that are connected to you in the book.
Reading any one of them will give you You are enlightened. As far as reading is concerned, Bacon will tell you that reading enriches one, reading history makes one wise, poetry makes one smart, mathematics makes one meticulous, history makes one deep, ethics makes one solemn, logic and rhetoric make one eloquent.
When you are in distress, he will admonish you: luck is not without many fears and troubles, bad luck is not without much comfort and hope; the virtue of luck is temperance, and the virtue of bad luck is perseverance.
From an ethical point of view, later It is a greater virtue. When you are suspicious, he will enlighten you: the suspicion in your mind is like a bat in a bird, they always fly in the dusk; suspicion should be stopped, at least temperate, because this mentality makes people mentally confused, alienates friends, and Also disrupt business.
Regarding health preservation, his motto is that when eating, sleeping, and exercising, being calm and happy is one of the best secrets for health and longevity.
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