大学英语课件of studies.ppt

?????????????? Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Knowledge is power. 知识就是力量。 Francis Bacon’s Life Francis Bacon’s Thoughts and Writings Francis Bacon’s Essay: Of Studies Francis Bacon’s Life Bacon was born in a prominent and well-connected family. Temporary stay at France during 1577—1579, obtaining new ideas and thoughts. Bacon completed his law degree in 1582, and in 1588 he was named lecturer in legal studies. In the meantime, he was elected as a member of the House of Commons. He became Lord Keeper of Seal in 1617, Lord Chancellor in 1618 and was made a peer in 1618 under the reign of James I. He was charged with bribery and deprived of his office in 1621. For the next five years, Bacon got immersed in the pursuit of the literary study and the scientific experiment. Bacon’s Thoughts and Writings Bacon opposed the traditional learning of the Schoolmen and proposed an entirely new system based on empirical and inductive principles and the active development of new arts and inventions, a system whose ultimate goal would be the production of practical knowledge for the benefit of men. In The Advancement of Learning(1605), he argued that the only knowledge of importance was that which could be discovered by observation. He championed the idea of state funding for experimental science and the creation of an encyclopedia. In Novum Organum (1620), he redefined the task of natural science, as a way of increasing human power over nature. The New Atlantis (1626), he described a utopian state, exploiting scientific knowledge. The Essays Bacon’s Essays The first version of Essays (1597) contains ten essays. The final version collects fifty-eight essays, covering a wide variety of subjects. Many of his sentences have become wise old sayings into English language. “Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.”