Reading Bacon after the challenge of German Historia Litteraria

Abstract

ion, Adventitious, Anticipation, Aphorisms, Approximations, Art of Inventing, Assemblages, "-\ttraction (see Sympathy), Axioms, Canons, Civil History, Confutation, Cosmical, Elections, Exclusion, Forms, Generations, Georgicks, History, Idols, Induction. Inductive History Inductive method, Instances, Instauration, Interpretation, Learned Experience, Literary history, Machine, Magick, Mathematicks, Mechanicks, Metaphysics, Natural History, Natural Theology, Natures, Novum Organum, Perception, Philosophy. Physics, Pneumatical Bodies, Praetergenerations, Primary History (see Inductive History), Primary Philosophy (see Philosophy) Professorial, Promtuary, Reason. Reduction, Rejection (see Exclusion), Scala Intellectus, Spirit, Substitution, Sylva Sylvarum, Sympathy, Tables, Topical Invention, Traditive, Transcendent, Union and Unity of Nature (see Nature), Works27 Bacon's term, Literary History zs is what we will focus on here, Shaw writes. "By literary history is meant the history of matters any way relating to learning, thro all the ages and over all the countries of the world". Bacon discussed 'literary history' when he was setting out his own division of knowledge where, literary history is listed with two other disciplines: civil and ecclesiastical histories, as Nelles has noted. Shaw in his footnotes to literary history in Bacon's texts, writes that a proposal as large as literary history should be the cooperative work of a Society Winter 2004 or College. Some parts of such an effort had been accomplished after Bacon by Peter Lambeck-but while this work was erudite it did not follow Bacon's topics. Shaw then commends the defmitions of 'literary history' to be found in Morhofs Pofyhistorand Stolle's Introductio in historiam literarium. He gives particular praise to the many books written by translator Gerard Vossius, concluding with a translation from his de Philologica: 'literary history should contain an account of the learned men and their writings, the improvement of sciences, the inventors and the progress of the art'.Z9 What happened to the term in Shaw is a bit confusing, for while Bacon did not really construct a theory for the encyclopaedic historia litteraria, Shaw nevertheless tried to blur the difference between literary history and historia litteraria and redefme Bacon's term by slight of hand. Shaw also declares he will modernise Bacon's prose, he writes in his General Preface: The Method observed in thus rendering them into English, is not that of a direct Translation-which might have left them more obscure than they are; and no way suited this Design-but a kind of open Version, which endeavours to express, in modem English, the Sense of the Author, clear, full, and strong; though' without deviating from him, and if possible, without losing of his Spirit, Force, or Energy. And though' this Attempt may seem vain, or bold, it was doubdess better to have had the View, than willingly to aimed at second Prizes. One prime example of modernising prose can be found in the first book of the Advancement if Learning, (reclassified as Preliminaries) where Bacon writes about sciences that sway the imagination. He lists astrology, natural magic and alchemy all of which have faults, Bacon writes. .Astrology pretends to discover 'superior influence upon inferior bodies', and 'natural magic pretends to reduce natural philosophy from speculation to works', at this point Shaw makes a decisive change in vocabulary and substitutes chemistry for alchemy. Thus, this sentence reads in Shaw 'chemistry pretends to separate the dissimilar parts'. Chemistry is a topic of great interest to Shaw so it is not surprising that he is happy to change the term alchemy to chemistry and keep Bacon's wording that criticises alchemy 'for being full of error'.30 Shaw is playing a game here, for while he urged the advancement of chemistry, he was very critical of alchemy. Structure of the edition The best way to discuss Shaw's edition is to provide an abbreviated outline of the two major divisions, each with their subtopics. Since history of science is the emphasis, here details will not be included about division of moral essays, legal