Philosophical doctrine of Bacon. Philosophy of Francis Bacon

The first thinker who made empirical knowledge the basis for any knowledge is Francis Bacon. He, together with Rene Descartes, proclaimed the basic principles for the New Age. Bacon's philosophy gave birth to a fundamental precept for Western thinking: knowledge is power. It was in science that he saw the most powerful tool for progressive social change. But who was this famous philosopher, what is the essence of his doctrine?

Childhood and youth

The founder Bacon was born on January 22, 1561 in London. His father was a senior official at the court of Elizabeth. The atmosphere at home, the education of his parents, undoubtedly influenced little Francis. At twelve he was sent to Trinity College, Cambridge University. Three years later he was sent to Paris as part of a royal mission, but the young man soon returned due to the death of his father. In England, he took up jurisprudence, and very successfully. However, he considered his successful work as a lawyer only as a springboard to a political and public career. Undoubtedly, the entire subsequent philosophy of F. Bacon experienced the experiences of this period. Already in 1584 he was first elected in the court of James the First Stuart, there was a rapid rise of the young politician. The king granted him many ranks, awards and high positions.

Career

The philosophy of Bacon is closely connected with the reign of the First. In 1614, the king dissolved the parliament completely and ruled virtually single-handedly. However, in need of advisers, Jacob brought Sir Francis closer to him. Already by 1621, Bacon was appointed Lord of the High Chancellery, Baron Verulamsky, Viscount of Saint Albany, Keeper of the Royal Seal and an honorary member of the so-called Privy Council. When, nevertheless, it became necessary for the king to reassemble the parliament, the parliamentarians did not forgive such an elevation to an ordinary former lawyer, and he was sent to rest. An outstanding philosopher and politician died on April 9, 1626.

Compositions

During the years of troublesome court service, the empirical philosophy of F. Bacon developed due to his interest in science, law, morality, religion and ethics. His writings glorified their author as a great thinker and the actual ancestor of the entire philosophy of modern times. In 1597, the first work entitled "Experiments and Instructions" was published, which was then revised twice and reprinted many times. In 1605, the essay “On the Significance and Success of Knowledge, Divine and Human” was published. After his departure from politics, Francis Bacon, whose quotations can be seen in many modern works of philosophy, delved into his mental research. In 1629, the "New Organon" was published, and in 1623 - "On the Merits and Multiplication of Science." Bacon's philosophy, briefly and concisely presented in allegorical form for a better understanding of the broad masses, was reflected in the utopian story "New Atlantis". Other excellent works: "On Heaven", "On the Beginnings and Causes", "The History of King Henry the Seventeenth", "The History of Death and Life".

Main thesis

All the scientific and ethical thought of modern times was anticipated by the philosophy of Bacon. It is very difficult to summarize its entire array, but it can be said that the main purpose of the work of this author is to bring to a more perfect form the communication between things and the mind. It is the mind that is the highest measure of value. The philosophy of modern times and the Enlightenment, developed by Bacon, placed special emphasis on correcting the barren and vague concepts that are used in the sciences. Hence the need "with a new look to address things and to carry out the restoration and, in general, of all human knowledge."

A look at science

Francis Bacon, whose quotes were used by almost all eminent philosophers of the New Age, believed that science since the time of the ancient Greeks had made very little progress in understanding and studying nature. People began to think less about the initial principles and concepts. Thus, Bacon's philosophy calls on posterity to pay attention to the development of science and do it to improve all life. He spoke out against prejudices about science, sought recognition of scientific research and scientists. It was from him that a sharp change in European culture began, it was from his thoughts that many areas of modern philosophy grew. From a suspicious occupation in the eyes of the people of Europe, science is becoming a prestigious and important field of knowledge. In this regard, many philosophers, scientists and thinkers follow in the footsteps of Bacon. Scholasticism, which was completely divorced from technical practice and the knowledge of nature, is being replaced by science, which has a close connection with philosophy and relies on special experiments and experiments.

A look at education

In his book The Great Restoration of the Sciences, Bacon drew up a well-thought-out and detailed plan for changing the entire education system: its funding, approved regulations and statutes, and the like. He was one of the first politicians and philosophers to emphasize the importance of activities to provide funds for education and experimentation. Bacon also stated the need to revise the teaching programs at universities. Even now, getting acquainted with Bacon's reflections, one can be surprised at the depth of his foresight as a statesman, scientist and thinker: the program from The Great Restoration of the Sciences is relevant to this day. It is difficult to imagine how revolutionary it was in the seventeenth century. It was thanks to Sir Francis that the seventeenth century in England became "the century of great scientists and scientific discoveries." It was Bacon's philosophy that became the forerunner of such modern disciplines as sociology, the economics of science and science of science. The main contribution of this philosopher to the practice and theory of science was that he saw the need to bring scientific knowledge under a methodological and philosophical justification. The philosophy of F. Bacon was aimed at the synthesis of all sciences into a single system.

Science differentiation

Sir Francis wrote that the most correct division of man's knowledge is that of the three natural faculties of the rational soul. History in this scheme corresponds to memory, philosophy is reason, and poetry is imagination. History is divided into civil and natural. Poetry is divided into parabolic, dramatic and epic. The most detailed consideration is the classification of philosophy, which is divided into a huge number of subspecies and types. Bacon also separates it from "divinely inspired theology", which he leaves exclusively to theologians and theologians. Philosophy is divided into natural and transcendent. The first block includes teachings about nature: physics and metaphysics, mechanics, mathematics. It is they who form the backbone of such a phenomenon as the philosophy of the New Age. Bacon thinks on a large scale and broadly about man. In his ideas there is a doctrine about the body (this includes medicine, athletics, art, music, cosmetics), and a doctrine about the soul, which has many subsections. It includes such sections as ethics, logic (the theory of memorization, discovery, judgment) and "civil science" (which includes the doctrine of business relations, the state, and government). Bacon's complete classification does not leave without due attention any of the areas of knowledge that existed at that time.

"New Organon"

Bacon's philosophy, summarized above, flourishes in The New Organon. It begins with a reflection on what a person, the interpreter and servant of nature, understands and does, comprehends in the order of nature by thinking or deed. The philosophy of Bacon and Descartes, his actual contemporary, is a new milestone in the development of world thought, as it involves the renewal of science, the complete elimination of false concepts and "ghosts", which, according to these thinkers, deeply engulfed the human mind and entrenched in it. The New Organon expresses the opinion that the old medieval church-scholastic way of thinking is in a deep crisis, and this kind of knowledge (as well as the corresponding methods of research) are imperfect. Bacon's philosophy is based on the fact that the path of knowledge is extremely difficult, since the knowledge of nature is like a labyrinth in which it is necessary to make one's way, and the paths of which are varied and often deceptive. And those who usually lead people along these paths often go astray themselves and increase the number of wanderers and wanderers. That is why there is an urgent need to carefully study the principles of obtaining new scientific knowledge and experience. The philosophy of Bacon and Descartes, and then Spinoza, is based on the establishment of an integral structure and methodology of knowledge. The first task here is the purification of the mind, its release and preparation for creative work.

"Ghosts" - what is it?

Bacon's philosophy speaks of the purification of the mind so that it approaches the truth, which consists in three revelations: the revelation of the generated mind of man, philosophies and proofs. Accordingly, four "ghosts" are also distinguished. What's this? These are the hindrances that hinder true, authentic consciousness:

1) "ghosts" of the genus, which have a basis in human nature, in the genus of people, "in the tribe";

2) "ghosts" of the cave, that is, the delusions of a particular person or group of people, which are caused by the "cave" of the individual or group (that is, the "small world");

3) "ghosts" of the market, which stem from the communication of people;

4) the "ghosts" of the theater, instilling in the soul from perverse laws and dogmas.

All these factors must be discarded and refuted by the triumph of reason over prejudice. It is the social and educational function that is the basis of the doctrine of this kind of interference.

"Ghosts" of the genus

Bacon's philosophy maintains that such disturbances are inherent in the human mind, which tends to attribute much more uniformity and order to things than is actually found in nature. The mind seeks to artificially fit new data and facts to fit its beliefs. A person succumbs to arguments and arguments that most amaze the imagination. The limitations of knowledge and the connection of the mind with the world of feelings are the problems of the philosophy of the New Age, which the great thinkers tried to solve with their writings.

"Ghosts" of the cave

They arise from the diversity of people: some love more particular sciences, others are inclined to general philosophizing and reasoning, others revere ancient knowledge. These differences, which stem from individual characteristics, significantly obscure and distort knowledge.

"Ghosts" of the market

These are the products of the misuse of names and words. According to Bacon, this is where the features of the philosophy of the New Age originate, which are aimed at combating sophistical inaction, verbal skirmishes and disputes. Names and names can be given to things that do not exist, and theories are created about this, false and empty. For a while, fiction becomes real, and this is the paralyzing influence for knowledge. More complex "ghosts" grow out of ignorant and bad abstractions that are put into wide scientific and practical use.

"Ghosts" of the theater

They do not secretly enter the mind, but are transmitted from perverse laws and fictitious theories and perceived by other people. Bacon's philosophy classifies the "ghosts" of the theater into forms of erroneous opinion and thinking (empiricism, sophistry and superstition). There are always negative consequences for practice and science that are caused by a fanatical and dogmatic adherence to pragmatic empiricism or metaphysical speculation.

Teaching about method: the first requirement

Francis Bacon appeals to people whose minds are shrouded in habit and captivated by it, who do not see the need to dismember the whole picture of nature and the way of things in the name of contemplating the one and the whole. It is with the help of “fragmentation”, “separation”, “separation” of the processes and bodies that make up nature, one can establish oneself in the integrity of the universe.

The doctrine of method: the second requirement

This paragraph specifies the specifics of "dismemberment". Bacon believes that separation is not a goal, but a means by which the lightest and simplest components can be distinguished. The subject of consideration here should be the most concrete and simple bodies, as if they "open in their nature in its usual course."

Teaching about method: the third requirement

The search for a simple nature, a simple beginning, as Francis Bacon explains, does not mean that we are talking about specific material bodies, particles or phenomena. The goals and objectives of science are much more complex: it is necessary to take a fresh look at nature, to discover its forms, to look for the source that produces nature. We are talking about the discovery of such a law that could become the basis of activity and knowledge.

Teaching about method: the fourth requirement

Bacon's philosophy says that first of all it is necessary to prepare an "experienced and natural" history. In other words, it is necessary to enumerate and summarize what nature itself says to the mind. Consciousness, which is left to itself, and driven by itself. And already in this process, it is necessary to single out methodological rules and principles that can make it turn into a true understanding of nature.

Social and practical ideas

Sir Francis Bacon's merits as a politician and statesman should not be underestimated in any way. The scope of his social activity was enormous, which would become the hallmark of many philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in England. He highly appreciates mechanics and mechanical inventions, which, in his opinion, are incomparable with spiritual factors and influence human affairs more qualitatively. As well as wealth, which becomes a social value, in contrast to the ideal of scholastic asceticism. Technical and societies are unreservedly endorsed by Bacon, as is technical development. He has a positive attitude towards the modern state and economic system, which will also be characteristic of many philosophers of later times. Francis Bacon confidently advocates the expansion of the colonies, gives detailed advice on painless and "fair" colonization. As a direct participant in British politics, he speaks well of the activities of industrial and commercial companies. The personality of a simple honest businessman, an enterprising entrepreneur, causes Bacon's sympathy. He gives many recommendations regarding the most humane and preferred methods and ways of personal enrichment. Bacon sees an antidote against riots and unrest, as well as poverty, in a flexible policy, subtle state attention to the needs of the public and an increase in the wealth of the population. The specific methods that he recommends are tax regulation, the opening of new trade routes, the improvement of crafts and agriculture, and incentives for manufactories.

Bacon, Francis

English philosopher, founder of English materialism Francis Bacon was born in London; was the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. For two years he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge University, then spent three years in France in the retinue of the English ambassador. After the death of his father in 1579, he entered the Grace Inn school of barristers (lawyers) to study law. In 1582 he became a barrister, in 1584 he was elected to Parliament and until 1614 he played a prominent role in debates at sessions of the House of Commons. In 1607, he took the position of General Solicitor, in 1613 - Attorney General; from 1617 Lord Privy Seal, from 1618 Lord Chancellor. He was elevated to knighthood in 1603; Baron Verulamsky (1618) and Viscount St. Albans (1621). In 1621 he was brought to trial on charges of bribery, removed from all posts and sentenced to a fine of 40 thousand pounds and imprisonment in the Tower (for as long as the king pleases). Pardoned by the king (he was released from the Tower on the second day, and the fine was forgiven; in 1624 the sentence was completely canceled), Bacon did not return to public service and devoted the last years of his life to scientific and literary work.

Bacon's philosophy took shape in the atmosphere of a general scientific and cultural upsurge in the countries of Europe, which took the path of capitalist development, the liberation of science from the scholastic fetters of church dogma. Throughout his life, Bacon worked on the grandiose plan for the "Great Restoration of the Sciences." A general outline of this plan was made by Bacon in 1620 in the preface to the New Organon, or True Directions for the Interpretation of Nature (Novum Organum). The New Organon included six parts: a general overview of the current state of the sciences, a description of a new method for obtaining true knowledge, a set of empirical data, a discussion of issues to be further investigated, preliminary decisions, and, finally, philosophy itself. Bacon only managed to sketch the first two movements.

Science, according to Bacon, should give man power over nature, increase his power and improve his life. From this point of view, he criticized scholasticism and its syllogistic deductive method, to which he opposed the appeal to experience and its processing by induction, emphasizing the significance of the experiment. Developing the rules for applying the inductive method he proposed, Bacon compiled tables of the presence, absence and degrees of various properties in individual objects of a particular class. The mass of facts collected at the same time was to form the 3rd part of his work - "Natural and Experimental History".

Emphasizing the importance of the method allowed Bacon to put forward an important principle for pedagogy, according to which the goal of education is not the accumulation of the greatest possible amount of knowledge, but the ability to use the methods of acquiring it. Bacon divided all existing and possible sciences according to the three abilities of the human mind: history corresponds to memory, poetry to imagination, and philosophy to reason, which includes the doctrine of God, nature and man.

Bacon considered the reason for the delusion of reason to be false ideas - “ghosts”, or “idols”, of four types: “ghosts of the genus” (idola tribus), rooted in the very nature of the human race and associated with the desire of man to consider nature by analogy with himself; "ghosts of the cave" (idola specus), arising due to the individual characteristics of each person; "ghosts of the market" (idola fori), generated by an uncritical attitude to popular opinion and incorrect word usage; "ghosts of the theater" (idola theatri), a false perception of reality based on blind faith in authorities and traditional dogmatic systems, similar to the deceptive plausibility of theatrical performances. Bacon considered matter as an objective variety of sensory qualities perceived by man; Bacon's understanding of matter has not yet become mechanistic, like G. Galileo, R. Descartes and T. Hobbes.

Bacon's teaching had a huge impact on the subsequent development of science and philosophy, contributed to the formation of the materialism of T. Hobbes, the sensationalism of J. Locke and his followers. Bacon's logical method became the starting point for the development of inductive logic, especially with J. S. Mill. Bacon's call for the experimental study of nature was the impetus for natural science in the 17th century. and played an important role in the creation of scientific organizations (for example,

2.1 Materialist empiricism

2.1.1 Bacon Francis (1561-1626).

Bacon's main work is The New Organon (1620). This name shows that Bacon consciously opposed his understanding of science and its method to the understanding on which Aristotle's Organon (a set of logical works) relied. Another important work of Bacon was the utopia "New Atlantis".

Bacon Francis - English philosopher, founder of English materialism. In the treatise "New Organon" proclaimed the goal of science to increase the power of man over nature, proposed a reform of the scientific method - the purification of the mind from delusions ("idols" or "ghosts"), appeal to experience and processing it through induction, the basis of which is experiment. In 1605, the work "On the Dignity and Multiplication of the Sciences" was published, which is the first part of Bacon's grandiose plan - the "Great Restoration of the Sciences", which included 6 stages. The last years of his life he was engaged in scientific experiments and died in 1626, having caught a cold after the experiment. Bacon was fascinated by projects for the transformation of science, the first to come closer to understanding science as a social institution. He shared the theory of dual truth, delimiting the functions of science and religion. Bacon's winged sayings about science have been repeatedly chosen by famous philosophers and scientists as epigraphs for their works. Bacon's work is characterized by a certain approach to the method of human cognition and thinking. Feelings are the starting point of any cognitive activity. Therefore, Bacon is often called the founder of empiricism - a direction that builds its epistemological premises mainly on sensory knowledge and experience. The basic principle of this philosophical orientation in the field of the theory of knowledge is: "There is nothing in the mind that has not previously passed through the senses."

Baconian classification of sciences, representing an alternative to the Aristotelian, has long been recognized as fundamental by many European scientists. Bacon put such abilities of the human soul as memory, imagination (fantasy), and reason as the basis for the classification. Accordingly, the main sciences, according to Bacon, should be history, poetry, philosophy. The division of all sciences into historical, poetic and philosophical is determined by Bacon by a psychological criterion. Thus, history is knowledge based on memory; it is divided into natural history, which describes the phenomena of nature (including miracles and all kinds of deviations), and civil history. Poetry is based on imagination. Philosophy is based on reason. It is divided into natural philosophy, divine philosophy (natural theology) and human philosophy (studying morality and social phenomena). In natural philosophy, Bacon singles out the theoretical (study of causes, with preference given to material and effective causes over formal and purposive), and practical ("natural magic") parts. As a natural philosopher, Bacon sympathized with the atomistic tradition of the ancient Greeks, but did not fully subscribe to it. Considering that the elimination of errors and prejudices is the starting point of correct philosophizing, Bacon was critical of scholasticism. He saw the main drawback of Aristotelian-scholastic logic in the fact that it passes by the problem of the formation of concepts that make up the premises of syllogistic inferences. Bacon also criticized Renaissance humanistic scholarship, which bowed to ancient authorities and replaced philosophy with rhetoric and philology. Finally, Bacon fought against the so-called "fantastic learning", based not on reliable experience, but on unverifiable stories about miracles, hermits, martyrs, etc.

The doctrine of the so-called "idols", distorting our knowledge is the basis of the critical part of Bacon's philosophy. The condition of the reform of science must also be the purification of the mind from delusions. Bacon distinguishes four types of errors or obstacles in the way of knowledge. - four kinds of "idols" (false images) or ghosts. These are "idols of the clan", "idols of the cave", "idols of the square" and "idols of the theater".

At the heart of the innate "idols of the family" are subjective evidence of the senses and all kinds of delusions of the mind (empty abstraction, the search for goals in nature, etc.) "Idols of the family" are obstacles caused by nature common to all people. Man judges nature by analogy with his own properties. From this arises a teleological conception of nature, errors arising from the imperfection of human feelings under the influence of various desires and inclinations. Delusions are caused by inaccurate sensory evidence or logical fallacies.

"Idols of the cave" are due to the dependence of knowledge on individual characteristics, physical and mental properties, as well as the limited personal experience of people. "Idols of the cave" - ​​errors that are not inherent in the entire human race, but only in some groups of people (as if sitting in a cave) due to subjective preferences, sympathies, antipathies of scientists: some see differences between objects more, others see their similarities; some tend to believe in the infallible authority of antiquity, others, on the contrary, prefer only the new.

"Idols of the market, or squares" have social origins. Bacon urges not to exaggerate the role of words to the detriment of the facts and the concepts behind the words. "Idols of the Square" - obstacles that arise as a result of communication between people through words. In many cases, the meanings of words were established not on the basis of knowledge of the essence of the subject; but on the basis of a completely random impression of this subject. Bacon argues against the delusions caused by the use of meaningless words (as happens in the market).

Bacon proposes to eradicate the "idols of the theater", which are based on uncritical adherence to authorities. "Idols of the theater" - obstacles generated in science by uncritically assimilated, false opinions. "Idols of the theater" are not innate in our mind, they arise as a result of the subordination of the mind to erroneous views. False views, rooted in faith in the old authorities, appear before the mental eye of people like theatrical performances.

Bacon considered it necessary to create a correct method, with the help of which it would be possible to gradually ascend from single facts to broad generalizations. In ancient times, all discoveries were made only spontaneously, while the correct method should be based on experiments (purposefully set experiments), which should be systematized in "natural history". In general, induction appears in Bacon not only as one of the types of logical conclusion, but also as the logic of scientific discovery, the methodology for developing concepts based on experience. Bacon understood his methodology as a certain combination of empiricism and rationalism, likening it to the mode of action of a bee processing the collected nectar, in contrast to an ant (flat empiricism) or a spider (scholasticism divorced from experience). Thus Bacon distinguished three main ways of learning:1) "the way of the spider" - the derivation of truths from pure consciousness. This path was the main one in scholasticism, which he subjected to sharp criticism. Dogmatic scientists, neglecting empirical knowledge, weave a web of abstract reasoning. 2) "the way of the ant" - narrow empiricism, the collection of disparate facts without their conceptual generalization; 3) "the path of the bee" - a combination of the first two paths, a combination of the abilities of experience and reason, i.e. sensual and rational. A scientist, like a bee, collects juices - experimental data and, theoretically processing them, creates the honey of science. Advocating for this combination, Bacon, however, gives priority to empirical knowledge. Bacon distinguished between fruitful experiments, that is, immediately bringing certain results, their goal is to bring direct benefit to a person, and luminiferous experiments, the practical benefit of which is not immediately noticeable, but which ultimately give the maximum result, their goal is not immediate benefit, but knowledge of the laws of phenomena. and properties of things. .

So, F. Bacon, the founder of materialism and experimental science of his time, believed that the sciences that study knowledge, thinking are the key to everything else, because they contain "mental tools" that give instructions to the mind or warn it from delusions ("idols"). ).

Highertask of knowledgeandallSciences, according to Bacon, - domination over nature and improvement of human life. According to the head of the "House of Solomon" (a kind of research center of the Academy, the idea of ​​which was put forward by Bacon in the utopian novel "The New Atlantis"), "the goal of society is the knowledge of the causes and hidden forces of all things, the expansion of man's power over nature, until everything becomes possible for him." Scientific research should not be limited to thoughts of its immediate utility. Knowledge is power, but it can become real power only if it is based on finding out the true causes of phenomena occurring in nature. Only that science is capable of conquering nature and dominating over it, which itself "obeys" nature, that is, is guided by the knowledge of its laws.

Technocratic School. The "New Atlantis" (1623-24) tells about the mysterious country of Bensalem, which is led by the "House of Solomon", or "Society for the knowledge of the true nature of all things", uniting the main sages of the country. Bacon's utopia differs from communist and socialist utopias by its pronounced technocratic character: the cult of scientific and technological inventions reigns on the island, which are the main reason for the prosperity of the population. The Atlanteans have an aggressive and entrepreneurial spirit, and the clandestine export of information about achievements and secrets from other countries is encouraged. "New Atlantis" remained unfinished. .

Theory of induction: Bacon developed his empirical method of cognition, which is his induction - a true tool for studying the laws ("forms") of natural phenomena, which, in his opinion, make it possible to make the mind adequate to natural things.

Concepts are usually obtained through too hasty and insufficiently substantiated generalizations. Therefore, the first condition for the reform of science, the progress of knowledge, is the improvement of the methods of generalization, the formation of concepts. Since the process of generalization is induction, the logical basis for the reform of science must be a new theory of induction.

Before Bacon, philosophers who wrote about induction focused their understanding mainly on those cases or facts that confirm propositions or generalizable propositions. Bacon stressed the importance of those cases that refute the generalization, contradict it. These are the so-called negative instances. Even a single such case can completely or partially refute a hasty generalization. According to Bacon, neglect of negative instances is the main cause of errors, superstitions and prejudices.

Bacon exposes a new logic: “My logic differs essentially from traditional logic in three things: its very purpose, the method of proof, and where it begins its research. The purpose of my science is not the invention of arguments, but various arts; not things that agree with the principles but the principles themselves; not some plausible relations and arrangements, but a direct representation and description of bodies. As you can see, he subordinates his logic to the same goal as philosophy.

Bacon considers induction to be the main working method of his logic. In this he sees a guarantee against shortcomings not only in logic, but in all knowledge in general. He characterizes it as follows: "Under induction I understand the form of proof, which looks closely at feelings, strives to comprehend the natural character of things, strives for deeds and almost merges with them." Bacon, however, dwells on the present state of development and the present way of using the inductive approach. He rejects the induction which, he says, is carried out by mere enumeration. Such an induction "leads to an indefinite conclusion, it is subject to the dangers that threaten it from opposite cases, if it pays attention only to what is familiar to it, and does not come to any conclusion." Therefore, he emphasizes the need for a revision, or more precisely, the development of an inductive method. The first condition for the progress of knowledge is the improvement of methods of generalization. The process of generalization is induction. Induction proceeds from sensations, individual facts, and rises step by step, without jumps, to general propositions. The main task is to create a new method of cognition. Essence: 1) observation of facts; 2) their systematization and classification; 3) cutting off unnecessary facts; 4) decomposition of the phenomenon into its component parts; 5) verification of facts by experience; 6) generalization.

Bacon is one of the first who consciously began to develop scientific method based on observation and understanding of nature. Knowledge becomes power if it is based on the study of natural phenomena and is guided by the knowledge of its laws. The subject of philosophy should be matter, as well as its various and diverse forms. Bacon spoke about the qualitative heterogeneity of matter, which has diverse forms of motion (19 types, including resistance, oscillation.). The eternity of matter and motion does not need justification. Bacon defended the cognizability of nature, believed that this issue is resolved not by disputes, but by experience. On the way of knowledge there are many obstacles, delusions that clog the mind.

Bacon emphasized the importance of natural science, but stood on the point of view of theory duality of truth(then progressive): theology has God as its object, science has nature. It is necessary to distinguish between the spheres of God's competence: God is the creator of the world and man, but only an object of faith. Knowledge does not depend on faith. Philosophy is based on knowledge and experience. The main obstacle is scholasticism. The main vice is abstractness, the derivation of general provisions from particular ones. Bacon is an empiricist: knowledge begins with sensory data that need experimental verification and confirmation, which means that natural phenomena should be judged only on the basis of experience. Bacon also believed that knowledge should strive to reveal internal cause-and-effect relationships and the laws of nature through the processing of data by the senses and theoretical thinking. In general, Bacon's philosophy was an attempt to create an effective way of knowing nature, its causes, laws. Bacon significantly contributed to the formation of the philosophical thinking of modern times. And although his empiricism was historically and epistemologically limited, and from the point of view of the subsequent development of knowledge, it can be criticized in many directions, in its time it played a very positive role.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) lived and worked in an era that was not only a period of powerful economic, but also an exceptional cultural upsurge and development of England.

The 17th century opens a new period in the development of philosophy called the philosophy of modern times. If in the Middle Ages philosophy acted in alliance with theology, and in the Renaissance - with art, then in modern times it mainly relies on science. Therefore, epistemological problems come to the fore in philosophy itself and two major areas are formed, in the confrontation of which the history of modern philosophy takes place - these are empiricism (reliance on experience) and rationalism (reliance on reason).

The founder of empiricism was the English philosopher Francis Bacon. He was a talented scientist, an outstanding public and political figure, coming from a noble aristocratic family. Francis Bacon graduated from the University of Cambridge. In 1584 he was elected to Parliament. From 1617 he becomes Lord Privy Seal under King James I, inheriting this position from his father; then Lord Chancellor. In 1961, Bacon was brought to trial on charges of bribery on a false denunciation, convicted and removed from all positions. Soon he was pardoned by the king, but did not return to public service, devoting himself entirely to scientific and literary work. The legends surrounding the name of Bacon, like any great man, have preserved the story that he even bought an island on purpose in order to create a new society on it in accordance with his ideas about the ideal state, set forth later in the unfinished book "New Atlantis" However, this attempt failed, crashing against the greed and imperfection of the people he chose as allies.

Already in his youth, F. Bacon was hatching a grandiose plan for the “Great Restoration of the Sciences,” which he had been striving for all his life. The first part of this work is completely new, different from the Aristotelian classification of sciences traditional for that time. It was proposed in Bacon’s work “On the Prosperity of Knowledge” (1605), but it was fully developed in the main work of the philosopher “The New Organon” (1620), which in its very title indicates the opposition of the author’s position to the dogmatized Aristotle, who was then revered in Europe for infallible authority. Bacon is credited with giving a philosophical status to experimental natural science and "returning" philosophy from heaven to earth.

philosophy francis bacon

The problem of man and nature in philosophyF. Bacon

F. Bacon was sure that the goal of scientific knowledge is not to contemplate nature, as it was in Antiquity, and not to comprehend God, according to the medieval tradition, but to bring benefits and benefits to mankind. Science is a means, not an end in itself. Man is the master of nature, such is the leitmotif of Bacon's philosophy. “Nature is conquered only by submission to it, and what in contemplation appears as a cause is in action a rule.” In other words, in order to subjugate nature, a person must study its laws and learn how to use his knowledge in real practice. The relationship MAN-NATURE is understood in a new way, which is transformed into the relationship SUBJECT-OBJECT, and enters the flesh and blood of the European mentality, the European style of thinking, which has been preserved to this day. Man is presented as a knowing and acting principle (subject), and nature as an object to be known and used.

Calling on people, armed with knowledge, to subjugate nature, F. Bacon rebelled against the prevailing at that time scholastic scholarship and the spirit of human self-abasement. Due to the fact that the basis of book science, as already mentioned, was the emasculated and absolutized logic of Aristotle, Bacon also refuses the authority of Aristotle. “Logic,” he writes, which is now used, rather serves to strengthen and preserve errors that have their basis in generally accepted concepts than to search for truth. Therefore, it is more harmful than useful.” He orients science towards the search for truth not in books, but in the field, in the workshop, at the forges, in a word, in practice, in direct observation and study of nature. His philosophy can be called a kind of revival of ancient natural philosophy with its naive faith in the inviolability of the truths of fact, with the setting at the center of the entire philosophical system of nature. However, unlike Bacon, natural philosophy was far from putting before man the task of transforming and subjugating nature; natural philosophy maintained a reverent admiration for nature.

The concept of experience in philosophyF. Bacon

“Experience” is the main category in Bacon’s philosophy, because knowledge begins and comes to it, it is in experience that the reliability of knowledge is verified, it is it that gives food to reason. Without sensory assimilation of reality, the mind is dead, because the subject of thought is always drawn from experience. “The best proof of all is experience,” writes Bacon. Experiments in science are fruitful and luminous. The first bring new knowledge useful to man, this is the lowest kind of experience; and the second - discover the truth, it is to them that the scientist should strive, although this is a difficult and long way.

The central part of Bacon's philosophy is the doctrine of method. The method for Bacon has a deep practical and social significance. He is the greatest transforming force, the method increases the power of man over the forces of nature. Experiments, according to Bacon, must be carried out according to a certain method.

This method in Bacon's philosophy is induction. Bacon taught that induction is necessary for the sciences, based on the testimony of the senses, the only true form of proof and method of knowing nature. If in deduction the order of movement of thought is from the general to the particular, then in induction it is from the particular to the general.

The method proposed by Bacon provides for the sequential passage of five stages of the study, each of which is recorded in the corresponding table. Thus, the entire volume of empirical inductive research, according to Bacon, includes five tables. Among them:

1) Presence table (listing all occurrences of a phenomenon);

2) Table of deviation or absence (all cases of absence of one or another sign or indicator in the presented items are entered here);

3) Table of comparison or degrees (comparison of an increase or decrease in a given attribute in the same subject);

4) Rejection table (the exclusion of individual cases that do not occur in this phenomenon is not typical for it);

5) Table of "gathering fruits" (forming a conclusion based on the common that is available in all tables).

The inductive method is applicable to all empirical scientific research, and since then specific sciences, especially sciences based on direct empirical research, have widely used the inductive method developed by Bacon.

Induction can be complete or incomplete. Full induction- this is the ideal of knowledge, it means that absolutely all the facts related to the field of the phenomenon under study are collected. It is easy to guess that this task is difficult, if not unattainable, although Bacon believed that in time science would solve this problem; therefore, in most cases, people use incomplete induction. This means that promising conclusions are built on the material of a partial or selective analysis of empirical material, but such knowledge always retains the nature of hypotheticality. For example, we can say that all cats meow until we meet at least one non-meowing cat. In science, Bacon believes, empty fantasies should not be allowed, “... the human mind must be given not wings, but rather lead and gravity, so that they hold back every jump and flight.”

Bacon sees the main task of his inductive logic in the study of forms inherent in matter. The knowledge of forms forms the proper subject matter of philosophy.

Bacon creates his own theory of form. Form is the material essence of the property belonging to the object. Thus, the form of heat is a certain kind of motion. But in an object, the form of any property does not exist in isolation from other properties of the same object. Therefore, in order to find the form of some property, it is necessary to exclude from the object everything that is accidentally connected in it with the desired form. This exclusion from the subject of everything that is not connected with the given property in it cannot be real. It is a mental logical exception, a distraction, or an abstraction.

On the basis of his induction and teachings on forms, Bacon developed a new system of classification of the sciences.

Bacon's classification was based on the principle that comes from the difference between the abilities of human cognition. These abilities are memory, imagination, reason, or thinking. Each of these three abilities corresponds to a special group of sciences. Namely: the group of historical sciences corresponds to memory; poetry corresponds to the imagination; reason (thinking) is a science in the proper sense of the word.

The entire vast area of ​​historical knowledge is divided into 2 parts: "natural" history and "civil" history. Natural history investigates and describes natural phenomena. Civil history explores the phenomena of human life and human consciousness.

If history is a reflection of the world in the memory of mankind, then poetry is a reflection of being in the imagination. Poetry reflects life not as it is, but according to the desire of the human heart. Bacon excludes lyric poetry from the realm of poetry. The lyrics express what is - the real feelings and thoughts of the poet. But poetry, according to Bacon, is not about what is, but about what is desirable.

Bacon divides the message of the genre of poetry into 3 types: epic, drama and allegorical-didactic poetry. Epic poetry imitates history. Dramatic poetry presents events, persons and their actions as if they were taking place in front of the audience. Allegorical-didactic poetry also represents faces through symbols.

The value of the types of poetry Bacon makes dependent on their practical effectiveness. From this point of view, he considers allegorical-didactic poetry to be the highest type of poetry, as the most instructive, capable of educating a person.

The most developed classification of the third group of sciences - based on reason. In it, Bacon sees the highest of human mental activities. All the sciences of this group are divided into types depending on the differences between the subjects. Namely: rational cognition can be cognition either of God, or of ourselves, or of nature. To these three different types of rational cognition there correspond three different modes or types of cognition itself. Our direct knowledge is directed to nature. Indirect knowledge is directed at God: we do not know God directly, but through nature, through nature. And, finally, we know ourselves through reflection or reflection.

The concept of "ghosts"atF. Bacon

The main obstacle to the knowledge of nature, Bacon considered the clogging of people's consciousness with the so-called idols, or ghosts - distorted images of reality, false ideas and concepts. He distinguished 4 types of idols with which a person needs to fight:

1) Idols (ghosts) of the family;

2) idols (ghosts) of the cave;

3) idols (ghosts) of the market;

4) idols (ghosts) of the theater.

Idols of the kind Bacon considered false ideas about the world that are inherent in the entire human race and are the result of the limitations of the human mind and senses. This limitation is most often manifested in endowing natural phenomena with human characteristics, mixing with the natural nature of one's own human nature. To reduce harm, people need to compare the readings of the senses with the objects of the surrounding world and thereby verify their correctness.

Idols of the cave Bacon called distorted ideas about reality associated with the subjectivity of the perception of the surrounding world. Each person has his own cave, his own subjective inner world, which leaves an imprint on all his judgments about things and processes of reality. The inability of a person to go beyond his subjectivity is the cause of this type of delusion.

TO market idols or area Bacon refers to the false ideas of people generated by the misuse of words. People often put different meanings into the same words, and this leads to empty disputes, which distracts people from studying natural phenomena and understanding them correctly.

Category theater idols Bacon includes false ideas about the world, borrowed uncritically by people from various philosophical systems. Each philosophical system, according to Bacon, is a drama or a comedy played before people. How many philosophical systems have been created in the history, so many dramas and comedies depicting fictional worlds have been staged and played. People, however, took these productions "at face value", referred to them in their reasoning, took their ideas as guiding rules for their lives.

Introduction

Chapter 1 Bacon as a representative of materialism

§ 1. Great restoration of sciences

§ 2. Classification of the system of sciences, experimental-inductive method and the role of philosophy

Chapter 2 Ontology of Francis Bacon

§ 1. "New organon"

§ 2. The doctrine of the method and its influence on the philosophy of the XVII century.

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is considered the founder of experimental science in modern times. He was the first philosopher to set himself the task of creating a scientific method. In his philosophy, for the first time, the main principles characterizing the philosophy of modern times were formulated.
Bacon came from a noble family and throughout his life was engaged in social and political activities: he was a lawyer, a member of the House of Commons, Lord Chancellor of England. Shortly before the end of his life, society condemned him, accusing him of bribery in the conduct of court cases. He was sentenced to a large fine (£40,000), stripped of his parliamentary powers, and dismissed from court. He died in 1626, catching a cold while stuffing a chicken with snow to prove that the cold kept the meat from spoiling, and thereby demonstrate the power of the experimental scientific method he was developing. From the very beginning of his creative activity, Bacon spoke out against the scholastic philosophy that dominated at that time and put forward the doctrine of "natural" philosophy, based on empirical knowledge. Bacon's views were formed on the basis of the achievements of the natural philosophy of the Renaissance and included a naturalistic worldview with the basics of an analytical approach to the phenomena under study and empiricism. He proposed an extensive program for the restructuring of the intellectual world, sharply criticizing the scholastic concepts of his predecessor and contemporary philosophy.
The main objective of my work is a detailed consideration of aspects of the philosophy of Francis Bacon.

To accomplish the task, I needed to study the literature on this issue, and, if necessary, use data from the Internet.

Chapter 1 Bacon as a representative of materialism

§ 1 Great restoration of sciences

Bacon Francis is the founder of English materialism and the methodology of experimental science.

Bacon's philosophy combined empiricism with theology, a naturalistic worldview with the principles of the analytical method.

Bacon opposed the doctrine of "natural" philosophy to reasoning about God, which is based on experimental consciousness (empiricism - empeiria- experience). As a materialistic empiricist, Bacon (along with Hobbes, Locke, Condillac) argued that sensory experience reflects in cognition only objectively existing things (as opposed to subjective-idealistic empiricism, which recognized subjective experience as the only reality)

In contrast to rationalism (Descartes), in empiricism, rational-cognitive activity is reduced to various combinations of the material that is given in experience, and is interpreted as adding nothing to the content of knowledge.

Here the empiricists encountered insoluble difficulties in isolating the outgoing components of experience and reconstructing on this basis all kinds and forms of consciousness. In order to explain the actually occurring cognitive process, empiricists are forced to go beyond sensory data and consider them along with the characteristics of consciousness (such as memory, the active activity of the mind) and logical operations (inductive generalization), turn to the categories of logic and mathematics to describe experimental data as means building theoretical knowledge. The attempts of the empiricists to justify induction on a purely empirical basis and to present logic and mathematics as mere inductive generalizations of sense experience have failed miserably.

Bacon believed that the sciences since the time of the ancient Greeks had made little progress along the path of an unbiased experimental study of nature. A different situation is observed in the mechanical arts: "they, as if having taken some kind of life-giving breath, grow and improve every day ...". But even people who "set sail on the waves of experience" think little about the initial concepts and principles. So, Bacon calls on his contemporaries and descendants to pay special attention to the development of the sciences and to do this for the benefit of life and practice, precisely for the "profit and dignity of man."

Bacon takes a stand against current prejudices about science in order to give scientific research a high status. It is with Bacon that a sharp change in orientation in European culture begins. From a suspicious and idle pastime in the eyes of many people, science is gradually becoming the most important, prestigious area of ​​human culture. In this regard, many scientists and philosophers of modern times follow in the footsteps of Bacon: in place of scholastic polyknowledge, divorced from technical practice and from the knowledge of nature, they put a science that is still closely connected with philosophy, but at the same time based on special experiments and experiments.

“The activities and efforts that contribute to the development of science,” writes Bacon in the Dedication to the King to the “Second Book of the “Great Restoration of the Sciences”, “concern three objects: scientific institutions, books and scientists themselves” - In all these areas, Bacon has great merit. He drew up a detailed and well-thought-out plan for changing the education system (including measures to finance it, approve statutes and regulations). He wrote to one of the first politicians and philosophers in Europe: “in general, it should be firmly remembered that significant progress in revealing the deep secrets of nature is hardly possible if funds for experiments are not provided ...”. We need a revision of teaching programs and university traditions, cooperation of European universities.

However, Bacon saw his main contribution as a philosopher to the theory and practice of science in bringing a renewed philosophical and methodological foundation to science. He conceived of the sciences as linked into a single system, each part of which, in turn, must be subtly differentiated.

§ 2 Classification of the system of sciences, experimental-inductive method and the role of philosophy

“The most correct division of human knowledge is that which comes from the three abilities of the rational soul, concentrating knowledge in itself.” History corresponds to memory, poetry to imagination, philosophy to reason. F. Bacon divides history conformed to memory into natural and civil, and classifies each of them even more specifically. (Thus, civil history is divided into church history, the history of sciences, and civil history proper). Poetry - correlated with the imagination - is divided into epic, dramatic, parabolic. Philosophy, which is understood very broadly and is divided into many types and subspecies of knowledge, is divided and classified most fractionally. But even before that, Bacon separates it from the "theology of divine inspiration"; divisions of the latter he leaves to theologians. As for philosophy, it is primarily divided into two large blocks: the doctrine of nature, or natural philosophy, and the first philosophy (the doctrine of the general axioms of science, of transcendence). The first block, or the philosophical doctrine of nature, includes theoretical doctrines (physics with its applications, metaphysics) and practical ones (mechanics, magic with their applications). "Great application to theoretical and practical natural philosophy" becomes mathematics (in its turn differentiated).

Bacon thinks broadly and on a large scale, both philosophy in general and the philosophy of man in particular. Thus, the philosophy of man includes the doctrine of the body (which includes medicine, cosmetics, athletics, the "art of pleasure", that is, fine arts and music) and the doctrine of the soul. The doctrine of the soul has many subsections. It must be borne in mind that we are talking here precisely about the philosophical doctrine of the soul, already dissociated from purely theological reasoning. And therefore it is not surprising that it includes such sections as logic (understood also not quite traditionally - not only as a theory of judgment, but also as a theory of discovery, memorization, communication), ethics and "civil science" (which in turn is divided into three teachings - about mutual treatment, about business relations, about government or the state). The complete classification of sciences by F. Bacon does not disregard any of the areas of knowledge that existed then or even possible in the future. True, it was only a project, a sketch, and it was not and could not be realized by Bacon himself to any full extent. In the Baconian classification of sciences, which Hegel did not fail to pay attention to, along with physics or medicine, theology and magic figured. But the same Hegel noted with gratitude: “This sketch, undoubtedly, should have caused a sensation among contemporaries. It is very important to have before your eyes an ordered picture of the whole, which has not been thought of before.

According to the style of his philosophizing, F. Bacon is a great systematizer and classifier, which should be understood not in a purely formal sense. All his work as a philosopher and writer is built in such a way that any chapter of the book serves as a part of a pre-compiled and strictly implemented classificatory scheme.

Bacon's experimental-inductive method consisted in the gradual formation of new concepts through the interpretation of facts and natural phenomena. Only with the help of such a method, according to Bacon, it is possible to discover new truths, and not to stagnate. Without rejecting deduction, Bacon defined the difference and features of these two methods of cognition as follows: “Two ways exist and can exist for finding and discovering truth. One soars from sensations and particulars to the most general axioms and, proceeding from these foundations and their unshakable truth, discusses and discovers the middle axioms. This path is used today. The other path deduces axioms from sensations and particulars, ascending continuously and gradually until, finally, it leads to the most general axioms. This is the true path, but not tested. " Although the problem of induction was raised earlier by previous philosophers, it is only in Bacon that it acquires a dominant significance and acts as a primary means of knowing nature. In contrast to induction through a simple enumeration, common at that time, he brings to the fore the true, in his words, induction, which gives new conclusions obtained not only on the basis of observation of confirming facts, but as a result of studying phenomena that contradict the position being proved. A single case can refute an ill-considered generalization. Neglect of the so-called authorities according to Bacon is the main cause of errors, superstitions, prejudices.

In Bacon's inductive method, the necessary steps include the collection of facts and their systematization. Bacon put forward the idea of ​​compiling 3 tables of research: tables of presence, absence, and intermediate steps. If - to take Bacon's favorite example - someone wants to find a formula for heat, then he collects in the first table various cases of heat, trying to weed out everything that is not connected with heat. In the second table he collects together cases which are similar to those in the first, but do not have heat. For example, the first table may include rays from the sun that create heat, while the second table may include rays from the moon or stars that do not create heat. On this basis, all those things that are present when heat is present can be distinguished; finally, in the third table, cases are collected in which heat is present in varying degrees. Using these three tables together, we can, according to Bacon, find out the cause that underlies heat, namely, according to Bacon, movement. This manifests the principle of studying the general properties of phenomena, their analysis. Bacon's inductive method also includes conducting an experiment. At the same time, it is important to vary the experiment, repeat it, move it from one area to another, reverse the circumstances and link them with others. After that, you can proceed to the decisive experiment.

Bacon put forward the experimental generalization of facts as the core of his method, but he was not a defender of a one-sided understanding of it. Bacon's empirical method is distinguished by the fact that it relies to the maximum extent on reason in the analysis of facts. Bacon compared his method to the art of the bee, which, extracting nectar from flowers, processes it into honey with its own skill. He condemned the crude empiricists who, like an ant, collect everything that comes their way (meaning the alchemists), as well as those speculative dogmatists who, like a spider, weave a web of knowledge out of themselves (meaning the scholastics).

Chapter 2 Francis Bacon's Ontology

§ 1 "New Organon"

F. Bacon's book "The New Organon" begins with "Aphorisms on the Interpretation of Nature and the Kingdom of Man." The section opens with the wonderful words of F. Bacon: “Man, the servant and interpreter of nature, does and understands as much as he has comprehended in the order of nature by deed or reflection, and beyond this he does not know and cannot” 1. The renewal of science is its "updating to the last foundations" (aphorism XXXI). First of all, it implies, according to Bacon, the refutation and, as far as possible, the elimination of ghosts and false concepts "which have already captured the human mind and are deeply entrenched in it" (aphorism XXXVIII). Bacon is of the opinion that the old way of thinking, inherited from the Middle Ages and ideologically sanctified by the Church and Scholasticism, is in deep crisis. The old knowledge (and the methods of research corresponding to it) are imperfect along all lines: “in the practical part, it is fruitless, full of unresolved questions; in its growth is slow and sluggish; strives to show perfection as a whole, but poorly completed in its parts; in terms of content, it pleases the crowd and is doubtful for the authors themselves, and therefore seeks protection and ostentatious power in all sorts of tricks.

According to Bacon, the path of human knowledge is difficult. The building of nature, in which one has to pave the way for a knowing person, is like a labyrinth, the roads here are varied and deceptive, the “loops and knots of nature” are complex. You have to learn in the "wrong light of feelings." Yes, and those who lead people along this path, themselves go astray and increase the number of wanderers and wanderers. That is why it is necessary to carefully study the principles of knowledge. “We must guide our steps with a guiding thread and, according to a certain rule, secure the entire path, starting already from the first perceptions of the senses.” Therefore, Bacon breaks the great work of restoring the sciences into two parts: the first, “destructive”, should help a person “to carry out a complete rejection of ordinary theories and concepts and then reapply a purified and impartial mind to particulars.” Supporting later this great work of Bacon, Descartes rightly notes that the positive successes he has achieved in science are the consequences and conclusions of five or six major difficulties he has overcome. Impartial reason is the starting point at which the doctrine of method can and must be applied, the positive, actually creative part of the restoration of the sciences. Suggested here

Bacon's structure of the doctrine of knowledge is essentially borrowed, as we shall see, by Descartes and Spinoza.

So, the first task is destructive, the task of "cleansing", freeing the mind, preparing it for subsequent positive creative work. Bacon seeks to solve this problem in his famous doctrine of "ghosts" or "idols."

The doctrine of ghosts

“Our teaching on the purification of the mind so that it is capable of truth consists in three reproofs: the rebuke of philosophies, the rebuke of proofs and the rebuke of the innate human mind” 1Bacon writes. Accordingly, Bacon distinguishes four kinds of "ghosts" - obstacles that prevent genuine, true knowledge:

) ghosts of the genus, having a basis "in the very nature of man, in the tribe or in the very genus of people";

) ghosts of the market, arising from the mutual communication of people, and, finally,

) the ghosts of the theatre, “which have entered the souls of people from various dogmas of philosophy, as well as from the perverse laws of evidence.”

The ghosts of the race, according to Bacon, are inherent in human knowledge, which tends to "mix its nature with the nature of things", because of which things appear "in a twisted and disfigured form" 1. What are these ghosts? The human mind is inclined, according to Bacon, to attribute to things more order and uniformity than it can really find in nature. The human mind, further, adheres to the once accepted provisions, seeks to artificially fit new facts and data to these of its own or generally accepted beliefs. A person usually succumbs to those arguments and arguments that strike his imagination more strongly. The impotence of the mind is also manifested in the fact that people, not properly dwelling on the study of particular causes, rush to universal explanations, without finding out one, they cling to the knowledge of another. “The human mind is greedy. He can neither stop nor remain at rest, but rushes further and further. 2. The mind, by its very nature, tends to cut nature into pieces and think of the fluid as permanent. The human mind is closely connected with the world of feelings. And from here follows, according to Bacon, a huge "corruption" of knowledge.

The ghosts of the cave arise because the properties of the soul of different people are very diverse; some love particular sciences and studies, others are more capable of general reasoning; "Some minds are inclined to revere antiquity, others are seized with love for the perception of the new." These differences, arising both from individual inclinations and from upbringing and habits, significantly influence knowledge, clouding and distorting it. So, in themselves, attitudes to the new or the old deviate a person from knowing the truth, because the latter, as Bacon is convinced, “should be sought not in the luck of any time, which is impermanent, but in the light of the experience of nature, which is eternal.”

The ghosts of the market are born from the misuse of words and names: words can turn their power against the mind. Then, Bacon emphasizes, sciences and philosophy become "sophistical and inactive", "loud and solemn" disputes degenerate into verbal skirmishes. And the evil that results from the misuse of words is of two kinds. Firstly, names are given to non-existent things and about these fictions, fictions, whole theories are created, just as empty and false. In this regard, Bacon mentions words and concepts generated by superstition or arising in line with scholastic philosophy. Fiction becomes reality for a while, and this is their paralyzing effect on knowledge. However, it is easier to discard this kind of ghosts: “continuous refutation and obsolescence of theories is enough to eradicate them” 1- But there are, secondly, more complex ghosts. These are those that spring from "bad and ignorant abstractions." Here Bacon has in mind the indeterminacy of the meaning that is associated with a whole range of words and scientific concepts put into wide practical and scientific use.

The difference between the ghosts of the theater is that they "are not innate and do not penetrate the mind secretly, but are openly transmitted and perceived from fictitious theories and perverse laws of evidence" 2. Here Bacon considers and classifies those types of philosophical thinking that he considers fundamentally erroneous and harmful, preventing the formation of an unprejudiced mind. We are talking about three forms of erroneous thinking: sophistry, empiricism and superstition. Bacon enumerates the negative consequences for science and practice caused by dogmatic, fanatical, adherence to metaphysical reasoning or, conversely, to pure empiricism. The root of the unsatisfactoriness of contemplative-metaphysical philosophy is a misunderstanding or conscious neglect of the fact that "all the usefulness and suitability of practice lies in the discovery of average truths." The harm of extreme empiricism lies in the fact that because of daily experiences that give rise to ignorant judgments, the imagination of people is "corrupted". The theology of superstitions is recognized as the chief of all philosophical evils. The harm of theology and superstition is obvious: "the human mind is no less susceptible to the impressions of fiction than to the impressions of ordinary concepts." Thus, philosophical ghosts are considered by Bacon not so much from the point of view of their substantive falsity, but in the light of their negative influence on the formation of human cognitive abilities and aspirations.

The list of ghosts is complete. Bacon expresses ardent faith and conviction that "they must be refuted and cast aside by a firm and solemn decision, and the mind must be completely freed and cleansed of them" 1. The general meaning of the doctrine of ghosts is determined by this social educational function of it. The enumeration of ghosts, Bacon admits, does not yet guarantee progress towards the truth. Such a guarantee can only be a carefully developed doctrine of the method. "But the enumeration of ghosts also serves a great deal": its purpose is "to prepare the minds of the people for the perception of what follows" 2, clean, smooth and even out the area of ​​the mind.

We are talking about creating new social and at the same time individual attitudes, new principles of approach to the study and development of science, about providing those socio-psychological conditions that are by no means self-sufficient, but are necessary and desirable as initial and preliminary. And in this sense, the significance of Bacon's theory of ghosts goes far beyond the concrete historical tasks that gave rise to it. It also contains general social content. Bacon rightly enumerates here the dangers that threaten science in times of mass worship of authorities, in times of special dogmatization of knowledge and principles. Bacon is also right in that personal, individual interests, inclinations, the whole system of habits and aspirations have a definite and often negative influence on the activity of a given individual in science, and to some extent on the development of knowledge in general.

§ 4 The doctrine of the method and its influence on the philosophy of the XVII century.

Philosophy of the 17th century saw its main task in the decomposition, fragmentation of nature, isolation, separate study of specific bodies and processes, as well as in a separate description and analysis of the external appearance of bodily, material nature, on the one hand, and its law, on the other. “It is necessary,” writes Bacon, “to effect the decomposition and division of nature, of course, not by fire, but by reason, which is, as it were, divine fire” 1.

Bacon opposes those people whose minds are “captivated and entangled by habit, the seeming integrity of things and ordinary opinions”, who do not see an urgent need, including in the name of contemplating the whole, the one, to dismember the integral picture of nature, the integral image of the thing.

The second requirement of the method, concretizing the specifics of the dismemberment itself, says: dismemberment is not an end in itself, but a means for isolating the simplest, easiest Bacon characterizes this requirement in two of its senses. First, a single, integral thing must be decomposed into "simple natures", and then derived from them. Secondly, simple, “concrete bodies as they are revealed in nature in its usual course” should become the subject of consideration. “... These studies,” Bacon further explains, “are related to nature merged - or collected in one construction, and here they are considered, as it were, private and special skills of nature, and not the basic and general laws that form forms” 2.

The third requirement of the method is as follows. The search for simple beginnings, simple natures, explains Bacon, does not mean at all that we are talking about specific material phenomena or simply about private bodies, about their specific particles. The task and goal of science is much more complicated: one should “discover the form of a given nature, or true difference, or producing nature, or source of origin (for these are the words we have that are closest to the designation of this goal) 1". We are talking, in fact, about the discovery of the law and its sections (this content is what Bacon puts into the concept of "form"), moreover, such a law that could serve as "the basis of both knowledge and activity." But if the simple is at the same time a law, an essence, a “form” (and only therefore is it absolute, that is, the basis for understanding and explaining the relative), then it does not coincide with the real division of the object: the simple is the result of a special mental, intellectual “dissection” .

Highly appreciating the need for a real empirical study, owning various methods of decomposition and revealing the heterogeneity of the whole, recognizing that "the separation and decomposition of bodies is necessary." But how to prevent the danger emanating from an avalanche of empirical experiments? How to build a bridge from empirical to philosophical, theoretical content?

The fourth requirement of the method answers these questions. “First of all,” writes Bacon, “we must prepare a sufficient and good Natural and Experienced History, which is the basis of the matter” 2. In other words, we must carefully summarize, list everything that nature says to the mind, "left to itself, driven by itself." But already in the course of enumerating, providing the mind with examples, it is necessary to follow certain methodological rules and principles that will make empirical research gradually turn into a derivation of forms, into a true interpretation of nature.

bacon materialism organon inductive

Conclusion

In my work, I reflected the main provisions of the philosophy of Francis Bacon.

Main points of Bacon's philosophy:

on the issue of the relationship of faith and reason, he adhered to the idea of ​​dual

He singled out 4 types of "idols of knowledge": idols of the clan, idols of the cave, idols of the market, idols of the theater.

They proposed a classification of sciences. He put the cognitive abilities of a person as the basis of this classification: memory, reason and imagination. History is based on memory, art is based on imagination, and reason generates theoretical sciences. He refers to the theoretical sciences the first Philosophy, natural theology, philosophy of nature, anthropology. Anthropology includes: philosophy of man and civil philosophy; Human philosophy consists of psychology, logic, ethics.

Bacon's main idea: God planned to transform the world, turning it into the kingdom of man over nature.

Thus, Francis Bacon was the first to break with the scholastic past and Aristotelianism as the main brake on the further development of theory and practice with Protestant determination and recklessness on church authorities. “Truth is the daughter of Time, not Authority,” proclaimed Baron Verulamsky (such was the noble title of the philosopher). He was the first who clearly outlined the main path of science, along which it is moving to this day: reliance on reliable facts, on experience and experiment.

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Smirnov I.N., Titov V.F. Philosophy: Textbook for students of higher educational institutions. Second edition, corrected and enlarged. - M.: Gardariki, 1998. - 288 p.

Subbotin A.L. Francis Bacon. - M.: Nauka, 1974. - 422 p.

Grinenko G.V. History of Philosophy: Textbook. - M.: Yurayt-Izdat, 2003. - 488 p.

The payment of 40 thousand pounds of a fine, and also deprived of the right to hold public office, participate in parliamentary meetings and be at court. However, for his merits, he was pardoned by King James I and released from the Tower two days later, avoiding a longer imprisonment; Bacon was also released from the fine. Then he was allowed to take his place in the House of Lords, to be at court, but his state activity was over; he retired to his estate and devoted the last years of his life exclusively to scientific and literary work.

Biography

early years

Francis Bacon was born on January 22, 1561, two years after the coronation of Elizabeth I, in the Yorkhouse mansion on the central London Strand, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon and Anne Bacon (ur. Cook), daughter of the English humanist Anthony Cook, educator of the King of England and Ireland Edward VI. Anne Bacon was Nicholas' second wife and, in addition to Francis, they had an eldest son, Anthony. Francis and Anthony had three more paternal brothers - Edward, Nathaniel and Nicholas, children from their father's first wife - Jane Fearnley (d. 1552).

Ann was a well-educated person: she spoke ancient Greek and Latin, was interested in religious issues and translated various theological literature into English; she, Sir Nicholas, and their relatives (the Bacons, Cecilies, Russells, Cavendishes, Seymours, and Herberts) belonged to the "new nobility" devoted to the Tudors, in contrast to the old, recalcitrant tribal aristocracy.

Very little is known about Francis' childhood years; he did not differ in good health, and probably studied mainly at home. In April 1573 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, and studied there for three years, along with his elder brother Anthony; their personal tutor was Dr. John Whitgift, the future Archbishop of Canterbury. Francis studied at college for about three years; leaving him, he took with him a dislike for the philosophy of Aristotle, which, in his opinion, was good for abstract disputes, but not for the benefit of human life.

On June 27, 1576, Francis and Anthony entered the Society of Teachers (lat. societate magistrorum) at Gray's Inn. A few months later, Francis was sent abroad, as part of the retinue of Sir Amyas Paulet, the English ambassador in Paris. France then experienced very turbulent times, which gave rich impressions to the young diplomatic worker, and food for thought. Some believe that the result was Bacon's Notes on the State of Christendom. Notes on the state of Christendom ) , which is usually included in his writings, but the publisher of Bacon's works, James Spedding, has shown that there is little reason to attribute this work to Bacon, but it is more likely that "Notes ..." belong to one of his brother Anthony's correspondents.

Start of professional activity

The sudden death of his father in February 1579 forced Bacon to return home to England. Sir Nicholas set aside a significant amount of money to buy real estate for his youngest son, Francis, but did not have time to fulfill his intention; as a result, he got only a fifth of the deferred amount. For Francis, this was not enough, and he began to borrow money. Subsequently, debts always hung over him. Also, it was necessary to find a job, and Bacon chose the law, settling in 1579 in his residence at Grace's Inn. Thus, Bacon began his professional life as a lawyer, but later became widely known as a philosopher-lawyer and advocate of the scientific revolution.

In 1580, Francis took the first step in his career by applying, through his uncle William Cecil, to appoint him to any position at court. The request was favorably accepted by the queen, but was not granted; the details of this case remain unknown. After working after that for two years at Grace's Inn, in 1582 Bacon received the position of junior barrister (Eng. outer barrister). In 1584 Bacon took a seat in Parliament for Melcombe in Dorsetshire.

His work is the foundation and popularization of the inductive methodology of scientific inquiry, often referred to as Bacon's method. Induction gains knowledge from the surrounding world through experiment, observation, and hypothesis testing. In the context of their time, such methods were used by alchemists. Bacon outlined his approach to the problems of science in the treatise New Organon, published in 1620. In this treatise, he proclaimed the goal of science to increase the power of man over nature, which he defined as soulless material, the purpose of which is to be used by man.

Bacon created a two-letter cipher, now called the Bacon cipher.

There is a "baconian version" unrecognized by the scientific community, attributing to Bacon the authorship of texts known as Shakespeare.

Bacon died after catching a cold during one of his physical experiments. Already seriously ill, in a last letter to one of his friends, Lord Arendel, he triumphantly reports that this experience was a success. The scientist was sure that science should give man power over nature and thereby improve his life.

scientific knowledge

In general, Bacon considered the great dignity of science almost self-evident and expressed this in his famous aphorism “Knowledge is power” (lat. Scientia potentia est).

However, there have been many attacks on science. After analyzing them, Bacon came to the conclusion that God did not forbid the knowledge of nature. On the contrary, he gave man a mind that yearns to know the universe. People only have to understand that there are two kinds of knowledge: 1) knowledge of good and evil, 2) knowledge of things created by God.

The knowledge of good and evil is forbidden to people. God gives it to them through the Bible. And man, on the contrary, must cognize created things with the help of his mind. This means that science should take its rightful place in the "kingdom of man." The purpose of science is to multiply the strength and power of people, to provide them with a rich and dignified life.

Method of knowledge

Pointing to the deplorable state of science, Bacon said that until now, discoveries have been made by chance, not methodically. There would be many more if the researchers were armed with the right method. The method is the way, the main means of research. Even a lame person walking on the road will overtake a healthy person running off-road.

Induction can be complete (perfect) and incomplete. Full induction means the regular repetition and exhaustibility of some property of the object in the experiment under consideration. Inductive generalizations start from the assumption that this will be the case in all similar cases. In this garden, all lilacs are white - a conclusion from annual observations during its flowering period.

Incomplete induction includes generalizations made on the basis of a study of not all cases, but only some (conclusion by analogy), because, as a rule, the number of all cases is practically unlimited, and theoretically it is impossible to prove their infinite number: all swans are white for us reliably until we see black individual. This conclusion is always probabilistic.

In trying to create a "true induction", Bacon was looking not only for facts confirming a certain conclusion, but also for facts refuting it. He thus armed natural science with two means of investigation: enumeration and exclusion. And it is the exceptions that matter most. With the help of his method, for example, he established that the "form" of heat is the movement of the smallest particles of the body.

So, in his theory of knowledge, Bacon rigorously pursued the idea that true knowledge follows from sensory experience. Such a philosophical position is called empiricism. Bacon was not only its founder, but also the most consistent empiricist.

Obstacles in the way of knowledge

Francis Bacon divided the sources of human errors that stand in the way of knowledge into four groups, which he called "ghosts" or "idols" (lat. idola) . These are “ghosts of the family”, “ghosts of the cave”, “ghosts of the square” and “ghosts of the theater”.

1. The "ghosts of the race" stem from human nature itself, they do not depend on culture or on the individuality of a person. “The human mind is likened to an uneven mirror, which, mixing its own nature with the nature of things, reflects things in a distorted and disfigured form.”
2. "Ghosts of the cave" are individual errors of perception, both congenital and acquired. “After all, in addition to the mistakes inherent in the human race, everyone has their own special cave, which weakens and distorts the light of nature.”
3. "Ghosts of the square (market)" - a consequence of the social nature of man - communication and use of language in communication. “People are united by speech. Words are established according to the understanding of the crowd. Therefore, the bad and absurd establishment of words surprisingly besieges the mind.
4. "Phantoms of the theater" are false ideas about the structure of reality that a person assimilates from other people. “At the same time, we mean here not only general philosophical teachings, but also numerous principles and axioms of sciences, which have received strength as a result of tradition, faith and carelessness.”

Followers

The most significant followers of the empirical line in the philosophy of modern times: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume - in England; Étienne Condillac, Claude Helvetius, Paul Holbach, Denis Diderot - in France. The preacher of F. Bacon's empiricism was also the Slovak philosopher Jan Bayer.

Compositions

• « " (1st edition, 1597),
• « On the dignity and multiplication of sciences"(1605),
• « Experiments, or instructions, moral and political"(2nd edition, - 38 essays, 1612),
• « The Great Restoration of the Sciences, or the New Organon"(1620),
• « Experiments, or instructions, moral and political» (3rd edition, - 58 essays, 1625)
• « New Atlantis» (1627).

Image in modern culture

To the cinema

• "Queen Elizabeth" / "Les amours de la reine Élisabeth" (France;) directors Henri Defontaine and Louis Mercanton, in the role of Lord Bacon - Jean Chamroy.

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Notes

1. entry in Collins English Dictionary, HarperCollins Publishers, 1998.
2. , With. 11-13.
3. , With. 14.
4. , With. 14-15.
5. .
6. .
7. .
8. , With. 6.
9. , With. 135.
10. , With. 7.
11. Subbotin A. L. translated as "Notes on the state of Europe."
12. , With. 136.
13. There are two translation options. “The term “idolum” originally (in Greek) meant “ghost”, “shadow of the deceased”, “vision”. In medieval ecclesiastical Latin, it meant "figure of a god", "idol". F. Bacon returns to the original expression of the term, meaning a ghost that leads human knowledge onto a false path ”(I. S. Narsky // Bacon F. Works: In 2 vols. T. 2. M., 1978. P. 521).
14. See Aphorisms Concerning the Interpretation of Nature and the Kingdom of Man, XLI-XLIV.

Literature

• Bacon F. History of the reign of King Henry VII. M.: Nauka, 1990, 328 p., 25,000 copies, (Monuments of historical thought). ISBN 5-02-008973-7
• Liebig Yu. F. Bacon of Verulamsky and the method of natural science. SPb., 1866.
• Litvinova E. F. F. Bacon. His life, scientific works and social activities. SPb., 1891.
• // Encyclopædia Britannica. - ELEVENTH EDITION. - 1911. - Vol. 3. - P. 135-143.
• Gorodensky N. Francis Bacon, his doctrine of method and encyclopedia of sciences. Sergiev Posad, 1915.
• Ivantsov N. A. Francis Bacon and its historical significance.// Questions of Philosophy and Psychology. Book. 49. S. 560-599.
• Putilov S. Secrets of the “New Atlantis” by F. Bacon // Our contemporary.1993. No. 2. S. 171-176.
• Saprykin D. L. Regnum Hominis. (Francis Bacon's imperial project). M.: Indrik. 2001
• Subbotin A.L. Shakespeare and Bacon // Questions of Philosophy.1964. No. 2.
• Francis Bacon and the principles of his philosophy // Francis Bacon: Works in two volumes / Comp., general ed. and enter. article - A. L. Subbotin (translated by N. A. Fedorov, Ya. M. Borovsky). - M .: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, publishing house of social economics. literature "Thought", 1971. - T. 1. - S. 5-55. - 590 p. - (Philosophical heritage). - 35,000 copies
• Subbotin A. L. Francis Bacon. M.: Thought, 1974. - 175 p.
• Khramov Yu. A. Bacon Francis // Physicists: A Biographical Guide / Ed. A. I. Akhiezer. - Ed. 2nd, rev. and additional - M .: Nauka, 1983. - 400 p. - 200,000 copies.(in trans.)
• M.A.P.. - Date of access: 09/18/2016. (© Crown copyright and The History of Parliament Trust 1964-2016, Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981.)
• G.M.C.. - Date of access: 09/18/2016. (© Crown copyright and The History of Parliament Trust 1964-2016, Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981.)
• M. W. Helms, Paula Watson, John. P. Ferris.. - Date of access: 09/21/2016. (© Crown copyright and The History of Parliament Trust 1964-2016, Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983.)

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An excerpt characterizing Bacon, Francis

At this time, Count Rostopchin, in a general's uniform, with a ribbon over his shoulder, with his protruding chin and quick eyes, entered with quick steps in front of the parting crowd of nobles.
- Sovereign Emperor will be here now, - said Rostopchin, - I have just come from there. I believe that in the position we are in, there is not much to judge. The sovereign deigned to gather us and the merchants, - said Count Rostopchin. “Millions will pour out from there (he pointed to the merchants’ hall), and our business is to set up a militia and not spare ourselves ... This is the least we can do!
Meetings began between some nobles who were sitting at the table. The entire meeting passed more than quietly. It even seemed sad when, after all the previous noise, old voices were heard one by one, saying one: “I agree”, another for a change: “I am of the same opinion”, etc.
The secretary was ordered to write a decree of the Moscow nobility that Muscovites, like the Smolensk people, donate ten people out of a thousand and full uniforms. The gentlemen in the meeting got up, as if relieved, rattled their chairs and went around the hall to stretch their legs, taking some by the arm and talking.
- Sovereign! Sovereign! - suddenly spread through the halls, and the whole crowd rushed to the exit.
On a wide course, between the wall of the nobles, the sovereign passed into the hall. All faces showed respectful and frightened curiosity. Pierre stood quite far away and could not quite hear the sovereign's speech. He understood only, from what he heard, that the sovereign spoke of the danger in which the state was, and of the hopes that he placed on the Muscovite nobility. The sovereign was answered by another voice, announcing the decision of the nobility that had just taken place.
- Lord! - said the trembling voice of the sovereign; the crowd rustled and again fell silent, and Pierre clearly heard the so pleasantly human and touched voice of the sovereign, who said: - I never doubted the zeal of the Russian nobility. But on this day, it exceeded my expectations. I thank you on behalf of the fatherland. Gentlemen, let's act - time is more precious than anything ...
The sovereign fell silent, the crowd began to crowd around him, and enthusiastic exclamations were heard from all sides.
“Yes, the most precious thing is ... the royal word,” the voice of Ilya Andreevich spoke from behind, sobbing, who did not hear anything, but understood everything in his own way.
From the hall of the nobility the sovereign passed into the hall of the merchant class. He stayed there for about ten minutes. Pierre, among others, saw the sovereign leaving the hall of the merchants with tears of tenderness in his eyes. As they later found out, the sovereign had just begun a speech to the merchants, as tears splashed from his eyes, and he finished it in a trembling voice. When Pierre saw the sovereign, he went out, accompanied by two merchants. One was familiar to Pierre, a fat farmer, the other was a head, with a thin, narrow-bearded, yellow face. Both of them were crying. The thin one was in tears, but the fat farmer sobbed like a child, and kept repeating:
- And take life and property, your majesty!
At that moment, Pierre felt nothing but a desire to show that everything was nothing to him and that he was ready to sacrifice everything. His speech with a constitutional direction seemed to him like a reproach; he was looking for an opportunity to make amends. Upon learning that Count Mamonov was donating the regiment, Bezukhov immediately announced to Count Rostopchin that he was giving away a thousand people and their maintenance.
Old man Rostov could not tell his wife what had happened without tears, and immediately agreed to Petya's request and went himself to record it.
The next day the sovereign left. All the assembled nobles took off their uniforms, again settled in their houses and clubs and, groaning, gave orders to the managers about the militia, and were surprised at what they had done.

Napoleon started the war with Russia because he could not help coming to Dresden, he could not help being misled by honors, he could not help but put on a Polish uniform, he could not help but succumb to the enterprising impression of a June morning, he could not refrain from a flash of anger in the presence of Kurakin and then Balashev.
Alexander refused all negotiations because he personally felt offended. Barclay de Tolly tried to manage the army in the best possible way in order to fulfill his duty and earn the glory of the great commander. Rostov rode to attack the French because he could not resist the desire to ride on a level field. And so precisely, due to their personal characteristics, habits, conditions and goals, all those innumerable persons who participated in this war acted. They were afraid, conceited, rejoiced, indignant, reasoned, believing that they knew what they were doing and what they were doing for themselves, and all were involuntary tools of history and carried out work hidden from them, but understandable to us. Such is the unchanging fate of all practical workers, and the more they are placed in the human hierarchy, it is not freer.
Now the figures of 1812 have long since left their places, their personal interests have vanished without a trace, and only the historical results of that time are before us.
But suppose that the people of Europe, under the leadership of Napoleon, had to go into the depths of Russia and die there, and all the self-contradictory, senseless, cruel activity of the people - participants in this war, becomes understandable to us.
Providence forced all these people, striving to achieve their personal goals, to contribute to the fulfillment of one huge result, about which not a single person (neither Napoleon, nor Alexander, nor even less any of the participants in the war) had the slightest expectation.
Now it is clear to us what was the cause of the death of the French army in 1812. No one will argue that the cause of the death of Napoleon's French troops was, on the one hand, their entry at a later time without preparation for a winter campaign deep into Russia, and on the other hand, the character that the war assumed from the burning of Russian cities and inciting hatred for the enemy in the Russian people. But then, not only did no one foresee the fact (which now seems obvious) that only in this way could the eight hundred thousandth, the best in the world and led by the best commander, die in a collision with twice as weak, inexperienced and led by inexperienced commanders - the Russian army; Not only did no one foresee this, but all efforts on the part of the Russians were constantly directed towards preventing that which alone could save Russia, and on the part of the French, despite the experience and so-called military genius of Napoleon, all efforts were directed towards this. to stretch out to Moscow at the end of the summer, that is, to do the very thing that was supposed to destroy them.
In historical writings about 1812, French authors are very fond of talking about how Napoleon felt the danger of stretching his line, how he was looking for battles, how his marshals advised him to stop in Smolensk, and give other similar arguments proving that then they already seemed to understand there was the danger of the campaign; and Russian authors are even more fond of talking about how, from the beginning of the campaign, there was a plan for the Scythian war to lure Napoleon into the depths of Russia, and they attribute this plan to some Pful, some to some Frenchman, some to Tolya, some to Emperor Alexander himself, pointing to notes, projects and letters that actually contain hints of this course of action. But all these allusions to the foresight of what happened, both on the part of the French and on the part of the Russians, are now put forward only because the event justified them. If the event had not taken place, then these hints would have been forgotten, just as thousands and millions of opposite hints and assumptions are now forgotten, which were in use then, but turned out to be unjust and therefore forgotten. There are always so many assumptions about the outcome of each occurring event that, no matter how it ends, there will always be people who will say: “I said then that it would be so,” completely forgetting that among the countless assumptions there were made and completely opposite.
Assumptions about Napoleon's consciousness of the danger of stretching the line on the part of the Russians - about luring the enemy into the depths of Russia - obviously belong to this category, and historians can only at a great stretch attribute such considerations to Napoleon and his marshals and such plans to Russian military leaders. All facts completely contradict such assumptions. Not only during the entire war, the Russians had no desire to lure the French into the depths of Russia, but everything was done to stop them from their first entry into Russia, and not only Napoleon was not afraid of stretching his line, but he was glad how triumph, every step forward and very lazily, not like in his previous campaigns, he looked for battles.
At the very beginning of the campaign, our armies are slashed, and our only aim is to link them up, although there is no advantage in linking up armies in order to retreat and draw the enemy inland. The emperor is with the army to inspire it in defending every step of the Russian land, and not to retreat. A huge Drissa camp is being set up according to the plan of Pfuel and it is not supposed to retreat further. The sovereign reproaches the commander-in-chief for every step of retreat. Not only the burning of Moscow, but the admission of the enemy to Smolensk cannot even be imagined by the emperor’s imagination, and when the armies unite, the sovereign is indignant that Smolensk was taken and burned and not given before the walls of his general battle.
So the sovereign thinks, but Russian military leaders and all Russian people are even more indignant at the thought that ours are retreating into the interior of the country.
Napoleon, having cut the armies, moves inland and misses several cases of battle. In the month of August he is in Smolensk and thinks only about how he can go further, although, as we now see, this forward movement is obviously fatal for him.
The facts clearly show that neither Napoleon foresaw the danger in moving towards Moscow, nor did Alexander and the Russian military leaders then think about luring Napoleon, but thought about the opposite. The lure of Napoleon into the interior of the country did not happen according to anyone's plan (no one believed in the possibility of this), but came from a complex game of intrigues, goals, desires of people - participants in the war, who did not guess what should be, and what was the only thing salvation of Russia. Everything happens by accident. The armies are cut at the start of the campaign. We try to combine them with the obvious goal of giving battle and holding the enemy's advance, but even in this desire to unite, avoiding battles with the strongest enemy and involuntarily retreating at an acute angle, we lead the French to Smolensk. But it is not enough to say that we are withdrawing at an acute angle because the French are moving between both armies - this angle is becoming even sharper, and we are moving even further because Barclay de Tolly, an unpopular German, is hated by Bagration (who has to become under his command ), and Bagration, commanding the 2nd Army, tries not to join Barclay for as long as possible, so as not to become under his command. Bagration does not join for a long time (although this is the main goal of all commanding persons) because it seems to him that he is putting his army in danger on this march and that it is most advantageous for him to retreat to the left and south, harassing the enemy from the flank and rear and completing his army in Ukraine. And it seems that he invented it because he does not want to obey the hated and junior rank German Barclay.
The emperor is with the army to inspire it, and his presence and ignorance of what to decide on, and a huge number of advisers and plans destroy the energy of the actions of the 1st army, and the army retreats.
It is supposed to stop in the Dris camp; but unexpectedly Pauluchi, aiming for the commander-in-chief, with his energy acts on Alexander, and the whole plan of Pfuel is abandoned, and the whole thing is entrusted to Barclay. But since Barclay does not inspire confidence, his power is limited.
The armies are fragmented, there is no unity of the authorities, Barclay is not popular; but from this confusion, fragmentation and unpopularity of the German commander-in-chief, on the one hand, indecision and avoidance of battle (which could not be resisted if the armies were together and Barclay would not be the head), on the other hand, more and more resentment against the Germans and arousal of the patriotic spirit.
Finally, the sovereign leaves the army, and as the only and most convenient pretext for his departure, the idea is chosen that he needs to inspire the people in the capitals to initiate a people's war. And this trip of the sovereign and Moscow triples the strength of the Russian army.
The sovereign leaves the army in order not to hamper the unity of power of the commander in chief, and hopes that more decisive measures will be taken; but the position of the commanders of the armies is still more confused and weakened. Benigsen, the Grand Duke and a swarm of adjutant generals remain with the army in order to monitor the actions of the commander-in-chief and excite him to energy, and Barclay, feeling even less free under the eyes of all these sovereign eyes, becomes even more cautious for decisive action and avoids battles.
Barclay stands for caution. The Tsarevich hints at treason and demands a general battle. Lubomirsky, Branitsky, Vlotsky and the like inflate all this noise so much that Barclay, under the pretext of delivering papers to the sovereign, sends the Poles adjutant generals to Petersburg and enters into an open struggle with Benigsen and the Grand Duke.
In Smolensk, finally, no matter how Bagration did not want it, the armies unite.
Bagration in a carriage drives up to the house occupied by Barclay. Barclay puts on a scarf, goes out to meet v reports to the senior rank of Bagration. Bagration, in the struggle of generosity, despite the seniority of the rank, submits to Barclay; but, having obeyed, agrees with him even less. Bagration personally, by order of the sovereign, informs him. He writes to Arakcheev: “The will of my sovereign, I can’t do it together with the minister (Barclay). For God's sake, send me somewhere to command a regiment, but I can't be here; and the whole main apartment is filled with Germans, so that it is impossible for a Russian to live, and there is no sense. I thought I truly served the sovereign and the fatherland, but in reality it turns out that I serve Barclay. I confess I don't want to." A swarm of Branicki, Winzingerode and the like poisons the relations of the commanders-in-chief even more, and even less unity comes out. They are going to attack the French in front of Smolensk. A general is sent to inspect the position. This general, hating Barclay, goes to his friend, the corps commander, and after spending a day with him, returns to Barclay and condemns on all counts the future battlefield, which he has not seen.
While there are disputes and intrigues about the future battlefield, while we are looking for the French, having made a mistake in their location, the French stumble upon Neverovsky's division and approach the very walls of Smolensk.
We must accept an unexpected battle in Smolensk in order to save our messages. The battle is given. Thousands are killed on both sides.
Smolensk is abandoned against the will of the sovereign and the whole people. But Smolensk was burned down by the inhabitants themselves, deceived by their governor, and the devastated inhabitants, setting an example for other Russians, go to Moscow, thinking only of their losses and inciting hatred for the enemy. Napoleon goes further, we retreat, and the very thing that was supposed to defeat Napoleon is achieved.

The next day after the departure of his son, Prince Nikolai Andreevich called Princess Marya to him.
- Well, are you satisfied now? - he said to her, - quarreled with her son! Satisfied? All you needed was! Satisfied?.. It hurts me, it hurts. I'm old and weak, and you wanted it. Well, rejoice, rejoice ... - And after that, Princess Marya did not see her father for a week. He was sick and did not leave the office.
To her surprise, Princess Mary noticed that during this time of illness, the old prince also did not allow m lle Bourienne to see him. One Tikhon followed him.
A week later, the prince came out and began his former life again, with special activities engaged in buildings and gardens and ending all previous relations with m lle Bourienne. His appearance and cold tone with Princess Mary seemed to say to her: “You see, you invented a lie to Prince Andrei about my relationship with this Frenchwoman and quarreled with me; and you see that I don't need you or the Frenchwoman."
Princess Mary spent one half of the day at Nikolushka's, following his lessons, herself giving him lessons in Russian and music, and talking with Desalle; the other part of the day she spent in her half with books, with the old nurse, and with God's people, who sometimes came to her from the back porch.