Customer Reviews

Francis Bacon: The New Organon (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy)

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I had to write a research paper on Francis Bacon's The New Organon for my History of Ideas VI class and this book was the definitive source for that paper. The introduction by Lisa Jardine is stellar. There is so much invaluable content and critical commentary in her introduction it was overwhelming. This edition by Cambridge University Press is sufficient for anyone who wants to become decently familiar with Bacon's The New Organon and his contribution to empiricism and the scientific revolution. It is an especially valuable source for anyone who has to do a substantial research paper for a philosophy course. I would not want to do without Jardine's introduction and the notes if I were writing a paper on The New Organon. I also would like to mention that though this book is not exhaustive in its scope it is very thorough in regards to The New Organon. If one is looking for more historical content on Francis Bacon the man, they should look elsewhere. This work only provides a very short chronology of the highlights in Bacon's life, but nothing beyond this. However, when I was working on my research paper, I favored this book amongst the fifteen to twenty others I was using for the sake of researching The New Organon. Just keep that in mind coming from a UK bound student who reads and writes papers 24/7 as if it were his job, literally. I assure you, you will no be disappointed with this work on your bookshelf. It will prove an invaluable source for future academic study and research for any serious scholar. For the rest who are not so serious academically, or who simply are not students and want a one-night stand with Bacon's The New Organon, this will suffice beyond measure.

This is a very clear and readily assimilated translation of what may be considered the manifesto of the scientific revolution. Translating a seventeenth century Englishman, writing in latin, back into english: should it be the english he would have written at that time, or is a more ahistorical rendering ppropriate? Sometimes I wondered if the translation might be a little too up-to-date in its sensibilities and I found myself returning to the latin original to be reassured that Bacon's original intent had been rendered. Although the text is admirably clear a few more footnotes would have been welcome. Those provided are either somewhat cryptic and brief notes of textual readings, or on the other hand, notes on personages that seem to pander too much to the ignorance of today's students - vero media est. Though the second part of Novum Organon seem but little removed from the alchemists den, Bacon's first part is as relevant to the scientific enterprise today as it ever was - modern physicists and geneticists should consider carefully whether, as aphorism LXIV warns, empiricism may be a greater danger than sophistic dogma ever was.

--and possibly a slightly more colloquial translation & scholarly academic introduction :D. The Library of Liberal


Arts edition is available for a lower price, minus footnotes & intro.