Sunday, September 1, 2013
In New Atlantis, Bacon conceives of a Utopian society with an interesting moral foundation. I say interesting because many of the activities that the society condemns (or frowns upon), Bacon himself would have been guilty of (accepting bribes, living extravagantly). Is this an admission of guilt/regret?
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I wouldn't be surprised if this was an admission for Bacon, he did write this just before his death.
ReplyDeleteAs the text speaks about ideals, it would seem fitting to see guilt and regret in Bacon's thought.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree. However, Bacon's promotion of the new science as being what he so confidently predicted would transform society into an infallible, organized system rooted in absolute, all-inclusive knowledge of the world doesn't seem to dwindle after his political influence is stripped of him. In fact, one could even argue that rather than using the New Atlantis as a platform for expressing his own corruption, it may also be an attempt to further illustrate what a crude stage his own society (merely on the brink of a secular shift toward scientific enlightenment) is in; ultimately shifting the root of corruption not in the self, but rather, within a society that has not yet perfected its own ethical standards by virtue of knowledge. This would be quite the opposite of an admission. Perhaps for Bacon, the misguided decisions and his abuse of power may have simply been products of a society which still allow individuals those opportunities due to a lack of knowledge in the ethics of economy and politics.
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