The advancement of learning : with a brief memoir of the author

This seminal philosophical treatise, originally penned in 1605 and considered the first major philosophical work written in English, also offers the first description of science as a tool to improve the human condition. This breakthrough work of the English Renaissance hailed new times and new possibilities for the human species. Bacon catalogs the current state of learning, the obstacles to its progress, and his own plans for its revitalization. Newly designed and reset as an inexpensive paperback, this edition makes available a work that has significantly defined the modern era. The Advancement of Learning (full title: Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Human) is a 1605 book by Francis Bacon. It inspired the taxonomic structure of the highly influential Encyclopédie by Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Denis Diderot, and is credited by Bacon's biographer-essayist Catherine Drinker Bowen with being a pioneering essay in support of empirical philosophy. THERE were under the law, excellent king, both daily sacrifices, and freewill offerings: the one proceeding upon ordinary observance, the other upon a devout cheerfulness: in like manner there belongeth to kings from their servants, both tribute of duty, and presents of affection.