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Knowledge is power. He tore down the old logic and built a new one based on observation, experiment, and induction.
The mind begins as a blank slate. All knowledge comes from experience. He wrote the philosophy that launched modern democracy.
Connection
Francis Bacon empiricist predecessor John Locke — Bacon's emphasis on observation and experiment laid the groundwork for Locke's empiricism.
Ideas
Words
“Knowledge is power.”
“Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, but to weigh and consider.”
“No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.”
Key Moments
1561 CE
Born in London
1620 CE
Writes Novum Organum
c. 1620 CE
The Four Idols
1626 CE
Dies After an Experiment with Snow
1632 CE
Born in Wrington, Somerset
1689 CE
Publishes Essay Concerning Human Understanding
1689 CE
Returns to England After the Glorious Revolution
1690 CE
Two Treatises of Government
Works
Novum Organum
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding