Francis Bacon, lawyer, courtier, statesman, philosopher and master of the English language. He was born year 1561 in London, and was living close within the court of England. Bacon went to Cambridge University where he studied both philosophy and science. Later his predestination to be a diplomat was irrupted, but because of his childhood he several years later returns and manages to work his way to greater titles . One day he is condemned for bribery but does not have to go to jail, but he looses hi political power. After this he retires and spend the rest of his life studying science and literature. Both his childhood and adolescence within the court, in addition to his studies has influenced his way of thinking and acting. Just like a typical renaissance man he had knowledge and interests within many areas.
Francis Bacon wrote several Essays and The New Atlantis expressing his own thoughts about knowledge and science. Bacon’s view of the world is that the nature has many hidden resources and that it is our duty as humans to be in command of these and use them for our own benefit. He is one of the giants within the scientific revolution, but he himself has not contributed with any scientific inventions or discoveries. He contributed with ideas about how science should be organized, and his goal is to find the laws of nature. The process to reach his goal is to collect observations and experimental results, and to do systematic research of our earth. His method was not based on mathematics or deductive logic, but on eliminative induction, therefore conclusion could be established and the structure of knowledge becomes firm and lasting. The message he is trying to pass on is knowledge is power. Bacon rejected Aristotle’s nature philosophy thinking that he trusted to much on logical thinking. Philosophers like Bacon has contributed to the pursuit of all knowledge within scientific methods.
The Essay on A Discussion of the Nature of Scientific
The National curriculum makes the learning of scientific enquiry skills compulsory and the requirements include that children should be taught to ask questions and use first-hand experience to answer questions as well as make predictions. These are the sort of skills which making learning in science self led in the sense that it is aimed at finding out what children perceive of the world around ...
