1966/01/01 by George H. Nadel
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Historical Philosophy and Science #Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy #Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
paper · doi:10.2307/2504446
The identification of Bacon's historical theory as psychological or as anything else must be preceded by the uncomfortable question whether Bacon had any theory of history at all. Since he set out to encompass all knowledge by his new, scientific vision, he necessarily included history among the subjects he wanted to remodel. But were his sketchy recommendations coherent and meaningful or were they merely programmatic grandiloquence expressing positivist aspirations? In what follows, I shall not attempt to identify Bacon's theory of history until I have assembled the evidence that might settle this question, namely, Bacon's stated historical principles and specific recommendations, and the relationship between them.