弗兰西斯·培根的英语介绍（中英对照11Ps）.docVIP

PAGE PAGE 1 Introduction of Francis Bacon（中英对照） Excerpt of the Chapter VII of A History of Western PhilosophyWritten by BERTRAND RUSSELL, Audio file 307 Francis Bacon delivered by BiHui. 摘自伯特兰·罗素所著《西方哲学史》第七章，音频文件 307 Francis Bacon 已由必辉提供。 FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626), although his philosophy is in many ways unsatisfactory, has permanent importance as the founder of modern inductive method and the pioneer in the attempt at logical systematization of scientic procedure. He was a son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and his aunt was the wife of Sir William Cecil, afterwards Lord Burghley; he thus grew up in the atmosphere of state affairs. He entered Parliament at the age of twenty-three, and became adviser to Essex. None the less, when Essex fell from favour he helped in his prosecution. For this he has been severely blamed: Lytton Strachey, for example, in his Elizabeth and Essex, represents Bacon as a monster of treachery and ingratitude. This is quite unjust. He worked with Essex while Essex was loyal, but abandoned him when continued loyalty to him would have been treasonable; in this there was nothing that even the most rigid moralist of the age could condemn. In spite of his abandonment of Essex, he was never completely in favour during the lifetime of Queen Elizabeth. With Jamess accession, however, his prospects improved. In 1617 he acquired his fathers office of Keeper of the Great Seal, and in 1618 he became Lord Chancellor. But after he had held this great position for only two years, he was prosecuted for accepting bribes from litigants. He admitted the truth of accusation, pleading only that presents never influenced his decision. As to that, any one may form his own opinion, since there can be no evidence as to the decisions that Bacon would have come to in other circumstances. He was condemned to a fine of ￡40,000, to imprisonment in the Tower during the kings pleasure, to perpetual banishment from court and inability to hold off