Francis Bacon, by Farrington

[p040] Francis Bacon—Philosopher of In- dustrial Science. By Benjamin Far- rington. James Watt and the History of Steam Power. By Ivor B. Hart. Collier Books, New York (paperback), 1961, 7s. 6d. One of the most important features of human society in the second half of the 20th century is that natural science has become one of the basic means of production. This opens up the possibility of creating the material base for a classless society, but it also LABOUR REVIEW—Autumn 1962 produces new problems for us, not least in the assessment of the changes in the mode of production which will come from this change in the tech- nology. If we had enough history of tech- nology, we could possibly get real guidance from it, for history is only an explicit rendering of the accumu- lated experience of mankind. Un- fortunately we don’t have enough history, but only scattered special studies and general surveys. So we take what we can get, and build on that. Benjamin Farrington starts from a Marxist attitude, and discusses things about Bacon that academic philosophers have ignored for some centuries. The least interesting thing about Bacon is his ‘logic’ or ‘inductive method’, His real significance was that of a prophet: one who saw a vision of a socially organized endeavour to gain a new sort of knowledge ‘for the glory of God and the relief of man’s estate’. Farring- ton discussess his philosophical deve- lopment, and_ indicates possible relations between his thought and the developing social forces in England at the end of the 16th century. The book was written for a_ general audience, and makes easy and worth- while reading.