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Stoicism, Humanism, and Rhetoric in Francis Bacon's New Philosophy

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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2007 Finding Nature's Order: Stoicism, Humanism, and Rhetoric in Francis Bacon's New Philosophy Susan Giesemann North University of Tennessee, Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation North, Susan Giesemann, "Finding Nature's Order: Stoicism, Humanism, and Rhetoric in Francis Bacon's New Philosophy. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2007. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/4245 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Susan Giesemann North entitled "Finding Nature's Order: Stoicism, Humanism, and Rhetoric in Francis Bacon's New Philosophy." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in English. Janet Atwill, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Robert Stillman, Mary Jo Reiff, Robert Bast Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertationwritten by �usan Giesemann North entitled "Finding Nature's Order: Stoicism, Humanism, and Rhetoric in Francis Bacon's New Philosophy." I have examined thefinal paper copy of this dissertation for formand content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillmentof the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in English. Janet Atwill, Major Professor We have read this dissertation andrecommend its acceptance: Acceptance for the Council: � L- ice Chancellor an�Grad Studies FINDING NATURE'S ORDER: STOICISM, HUMANISM, AND RHETORIC IN FRANCIS BACON'S NEW PHILOSOPHY A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Susan Giesemann North May 2007 Copyright© 2007 by Susan GiesemannNorth All rights reserved. DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my husband, David North, whose encouragement, support, and belief in my ability have helped make it possible; to my daughter, Carman North, whose quick mind and ready wit continue to spur me to keep up with her; and to the memory of threeextraordinary teachers, my parents, James Giesemannand Betty Wyatt Giesemann, whose lifelonglove of learningwas my first andbest example; and my husband's grandfather, William R. North, who was everything a professor of English ought to be. 111 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thankthe members of my committee fortheir advice and mentorship. My director, Professor Janet Atwill, who first introduced me to the Stoics, provided me with a different perspective forunderstanding Francis Bacon's view of nature and the new philosophy. Her advice has been invaluable as I worked with the Stoic texts, and she has been for me an example of what it means to be an excellent scholarof rhetoric. Most importantly, she has been a source of encouragement and friendshipduring the unavoidable darkdays of dissertation writing. Professor Robert Stillman, whose own work on Francis Bacon's relationship to theuniversal language movement broadened my understandingof Bacon's place in the earlymodem period, has always been both rigorous and generous in his advice. He too has provided me with a model of dedicated and exacting scholarship. ProfessorMary Jo Reiffcame late to my committee, but has been a careful reader, engaging audience, and good friend. I am grateful to Professor Robert Bast. who agreed to serve nearthe end of the process, and whose meticulous reading I found very helpful. In addition, there are those who were partof my committee at the beginning of this project. I benefited fromthe advice of Professor Owen Bradley, regarding the literature of the scientificrevolution. Most especially, my thanks go to Professor Linda Bensel-Meyers of the University of Denver, who first introducedme to the rhetoric of Francis Bacon, and whose teaching, encouragement, and friendship have meant so much to me over the years. It is a commonplace that graduate school and the writing of a dissertation are lonely endeavors, but I have had the encouragement of many good friends along the way. V I especially thank my great friendDavid Haines, who has read many drafts and given me excellent advice, as well as sympathy and encouragement when the path seemed hard to find. To Georgia Caver, my first friend in the English Department, I offer my unqualified affectionand appreciation formany discussions of Renaissance and more modern matters. I am also gratefulfor the advice and encouragement of my friends Jeremy Webster and Paul Jones, who, though out of sight, are never out of mind. During the final lap of thisrace, I have been gratefulfor the friendship and fellow-suffering of Michelle Greenwald and Anne Snellen. I am especially grateful forMichelle's proofreadingskills. Last, but not least, are the members of my family whose love has been a continuing source of strength. They are too numerous to thank individually, but I could not have succeeded without their love andsupport. Vl ABSTRACT Francis Bacon has long been considered a significant figurein the Scientific Revolution, but debate continuesregarding the significance andquality of his contribution. Although Bacon claimed to be developing a natural philosophical movement, he contributedlittle to methodological or theoretical aspects of the work that would eventually become modem science. Bacon's contributions should be evaluated within the context of Renaissance humanism rather than modem science, to the extent that in arguing fora tum to natural philosophy his aims were more consistent with the broad societal goals of his fellow humanists thanthe more limited ambitions of those pursuing natural philosophy. Bacon's methods were those of a skilled apologist, thoroughly trainedin rhetoric, arguing forthe study of nature as the basisfor a better society. In arguing for the study of natural philosophy as the foundationfor his Great Instauration, Bacon used concepts and commonplaces culled froma rangeof ancient texts, including schools both earlierand later than Plato and Aristotle. Among the ancient philosophies whose influenceon Bacon has been insufficiently studied is Stoicism, which understood the cosmos as the embodiment and working out of reason, often identified as god. Stoicism provided a way for Bacon to rationalize the study of nature as compatible with the dominant Christian theology of the day. This dissertation examines the ways in which Bacon's philosophical project relied on Stoicism, both as a source of rhetorical commonplaces, andas a model forthe synthetic and comprehensive philosophical system he hoped to institute. Within the context of civic humanism, Bacon blended the Stoic concept of nature as normative with theRenaissance commonplace of nature as a second divine text to authorize the pursuit of natural philosophy. The wise men of Solomon's House in Bacon's New Atlantis co_mbine aspects of the contemplative Stoic sage with the humanist concept of the prudentia embodied in the vir bonus. I arguethat the Royal vu Society is evidence of the success of Bacon's Great Instauration and that he helped create the space in which such a collegial society committed to the study of nature could develop. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter One The Hwnanist Background to the ScientificRevolution 9 Chapter Two Finding Nature's Order: Stoic Influenceson Bacon's Natural Philosophy 63 Chapter Three "To Second Reason and Not to Oppress It": Stoic Influenceon Bacon's Theories of Rhetoric and Discourse 123 Chapter Four The Stoic Sage in the House of Solomon 167 Conclusion 199 References 213 Vita 231 IX PREFACE The availability of primary texts forthis dissertation might be described as either feast or famine. In the case of the works of Francis Bacon, there areso many different editions that referencesin the secondary literatureare sometimes difficultto locate. For convenience, I have relied primarilyupon John M. Robertson's anthology, Philosophical Worksof Francis Bacon, which contains the Advancement of Learning and its Latin translation, De augmentis scientiarum, the Novum Organum, the Essays, anda few of Bacon's minor natural philosophical texts. References to this work areindicated by the abbreviation PW, followedby the page numbers. I have also tried always to indicate which of the philosophicaltexts is being cited. For the letters and other philosophical texts that are not included in the Robertson anthology, I have provided a full citation. As is noted in the text, many Stoic texts are no longer extant and areknown only by reference in other ancient texts. These Stoic fragmentsare available in a number of collections, including Doxographi Graeci by Hans Diels andStoicorum Veterum Fragmenta by H. von Arnim.With the exception of extant works such those of Cicero, Diogenese Laertius, Plutarch, and Seneca, I have relied on the English
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