Francis Bacon

A sketch of Bacon’s life will be found prefixed to his “Essays” in another volume of the Harvard Classics. His “Instauratio Magna” or “Great Renewal,” the great work by which he hoped to create a scientific revolution and deliver mankind from Aristotelianism, was left far from complete; but the nature of his scheme and the scale on which it was planned are indicated in these Prefaces, which are typical both of the man and the age in which he lived.

Proœmium of the Instauratio Magna

Epistle Dedicatory to the Instauratio Magna

Preface to the Instauratio Magna

The Plan of the Instauratio Magna

Preface to the Novum Organum