Lexington Books Francis Bacon's Inquiry Touching Human Nature: Virtue, Philosophy, and the Relief of Man's Estate

Francis Bacon's "Inquiry Touching Human Nature" is a study of Francis Bacon's moral philosophy in its relation to the enlightenment project he helped launch. Since Bacon is one of the founders of technological modernity, the book presents a meditation on the presuppositions and character of modern life. In its distinctiveness, modern life is characterized by a rejection as well as a reinterpretation of the classical and Christian approaches to life and conceptions of virtue. Svetozar Minkov follows closely Bacon's confrontation with the traditional views on courage, moderation, justice, wisdom, love, and ways of dealing with death and general adversity. Bacon had a comprehensive vision of the human situation. He can help us think through the relation between power and wisdom. And because he saw the costs or dangers of modern life as clearly as he predicted, and helped bring about, its advancements and boons, Bacon is a thinker who addresses directly and deeply our own perplexities. Review An indispensable clarifying of modern progress. Drawing on an astonishingly wide-ranging selection of texts, Minkov brings out the formidable reflections on wisdom, justice, love, and other moral concerns that underlie Bacon's technological-scientific project. A study itself philosophically illuminating.--Robert Faulkner, Boston College Svetozar Minkov shows us that Sir Francis Bacon, long noted for his attack on ancient natural philosophy and proposal of a new experimental and technological science of nature, was just as importantly a moral philosopher striving to understand the human condition. Minkov's book is important: it illuminates Bacon's thought and helps us think about the project of modernity.--Jerry Weinberger Professor Minkov gives us a string to lead us through the labyrinth of modern science and into the broader world of thought in which it is found. Students of science would well profit by understanding his thesis and would find their way out of the labyrinth, perhaps to return to it with that understanding in place.--Bernhardt L. Trout, Massachusetts Institute of Technology About the Author Svetozar Minkov is assistant professor of philosophy at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He has also taught at MIT, Kenyon College, and the University of Chicago. He is the editor of Man and His Enemies: Essays on Carl Schmitt (Bialystok University Press), and Enlightening Revolutions: Essays in Honor of Ralph Lerner (Lexington Books). Together with Gabriel Bartlett, he is the translator of Leo Strauss's Hobbes's Critique of Religion (University of Chicago Press).