Francis Bacon's Semi-Paracelsian Cosmology

Rees, Graham

doi:10.1179/amb.1975.22.2.81

Cited by 60 publications

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“…Graham Rees has pioneered the study of Bacon's matter theory in a number of papers, including Rees (1975aRees ( ), (1975bRees ( ), (1977Rees ( ), (1979Rees ( ), (1980Rees ( ), (1984aRees ( ), (1984b. A number of his conclusions are set out in Part 2 of his Introduction to Bacon (1996).…”

Section: Bacon On Projectile Motionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Matter Theory in Baconian and Cartesian Cosmologies

Gaukroger

2000

Perspectives on Science

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Within twenty years of one another, Bacon and Descartes proposed cosmologies which relied heavily on matter theory. In both, the distribution of matter in the cosmos determined what centers of rotation there were, and rotating bodies were carried around by the motion of an all-encompassing celestial uid in which they were embedded. But the role of matter theory in the two accounts is very different, both in motivation and in the level at which it is active in guiding physical theory. Matter theory in Baconian cosmology stands as a foundational discipline, being virtually constitutive of physical theory, as it had been for natural philosophers from Thales onwards, whereas in Descartes it is subservient to the needs of his optics and his mechanics.Comparison of the two cases shows how the role of matter theory came to be radically modi ed in seventeenth-centur y cosmology.The best-known astronomical theories of the early modern era-those of Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo and Newton, for example-offer a model of the cosmos in which solid bodies occupy an otherwise empty space. With Brahe's demolition of the existence of crystalline spheres, the idea that celestial bodies were physically carried-pushed or pulled-around by some solid material structure, such as ice or crystal, was abandoned. 1 The stability of planetary orbits was to be explained in terms of some physical in uence-a combination of gravitational attraction and rectilinear inertia in the most famous case-rather than in terms of something material: mechanics, not matter theory, held the key. But not all early modern cosmologists believed that one could dispense with a material medium, or with matter theory, and a uid version of crystalline 1. On the complex history of the crystalline spheres, and their uid cousins, see Grant (1996).

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Section: Bacon On Projectile Motionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Matter Theory in Baconian and Cartesian Cosmologies

Gaukroger

2000

Perspectives on Science

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“…49 Indeed he quite consciously and deliberately excluded salt from the structure of the bi-quaternion theory and, consequently, from any role in his cosmological speculations.…”

Section: Groundplan Of Thelviatter Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Matter Theory: A Unifying Factor in Bacon's Natural Philosophy?

Rees¹

1977

Ambix

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BACON'S speculative propensities found outlets in a variety of fields but chiefly in plant and animal physiology, pathology, psychology, the chemistry of generation and corruption and above all cosmology. His theoretical investigations in the areas specified can all be linked in one way or another to the pneumatic theory of matter which has two dimensions: the cosmological and terrestrial.The cosmological dimension is occupied by the bi-quaternion theory-the chemical theory which sustains Bacon's world system; the terrestrial embraces phenomena belonging to the other fields mentioned above. The precise relationship between the two dimensions is obscure. The object of this essay is to dispel the obscurity by exposing the hitherto undetected basic structure of the theory of matter, the structure which systematically embodies and unifies all the main elements of Bacon's speculative philosophy.In effect, this paper will marry up the results of my own work on Bacon's cosmological ideas! with the valuable researches of D. P. Walker and others 2 on aspects of the theory of matter in its terrestrial dimension. I start with an outline of the theory of matter as it is currently understood and pass thence, via the unmapped realm of Bacon's metaphysical beliefs, to uncover the groundplan of the matter theory. After that I shall try to reach a second objective and show that the theory may have a small role to play in solving a problem which I believe to be of capital importance for Bacon studies-the problem of understanding the relationships between the speculative and methodological phases of his natural philosophy.

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“…Change mostly happens (and is especially easier to see) at the "borders" between these regions (OFB VI 123ff;145,149,177). On Bacon's cosmology see (Rees 1975b(Rees , 1975a(Rees , 1996Manzo 2006). On the relative stability of the regions and the activity at the borders see OFB VI 137,145.…”

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confidence: 99%

‘Borders,’ ‘Leaps’ and ‘Orbs of Virtue:’ A Contextual Reconstruction of Francis Bacon’s Extension-Related Concepts

Jalobeanu

2016

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science

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Francis Bacon's natural philosophy contains a whole series of interconnected concepts related to extension, such as "borders," "leaps" and "orbs of virtue". These Baconian concepts are still not fully understood and are in need of a detailed analysis. They do not derive from a general conception of (homogeneous) space, and are not explainable in terms of parts of matter and aggregates. Instead, they are somewhat mysteriously defined in terms of limits and boundaries of action. This article offers a contextual investigation of Bacon's extension relating concepts. I show that in adopting a particular strategy of deriving spatial properties and extension related concepts from a theory of action and force, Bacon follows in the footsteps of Gilbert's magnetic philosophy. However, in contrast to the more traditional approaches of William Gilbert, Giovan Battista della Porta and Johannes Kepler, Bacon strips his extension-related concepts from any natural philosophical content and argues for a methodologically driven approach, leading to operational definitions.

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Francis Bacon's Semi-Paracelsian Cosmology

Cited by 60 publications

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The Role of Matter Theory in Baconian and Cartesian Cosmologies

The Role of Matter Theory in Baconian and Cartesian Cosmologies

Matter Theory: A Unifying Factor in Bacon's Natural Philosophy?

‘Borders,’ ‘Leaps’ and ‘Orbs of Virtue:’ A Contextual Reconstruction of Francis Bacon’s Extension-Related Concepts

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