Sir Francis Bacon: The Scientific Revolution And Religion

One of the most important developments in the western intellectual tradition was the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution was nothing less than a revolution in the way the individual perceives the world. As such, this revolution was primarily an epistemological revolution -- it changed man's thought process. It was an intellectual revolution -- a revolution in human knowledge. We have read some revolutionary pieces of literature from this period of time that were extremely important for the evolution of science and human thought and what they had in common. But nobody influenced this huge movement more than Sir Francis Bacon, through his works and his legacy. Bacon’s political science appears to separate religion and science. However, Bacon most likely believed that the advancement of humankind and the goal of achieving knowledge involves a complementary relationship between science and religion.

Sir Francis Bacon is best known for the Baconian

However, Bacon raises awareness for the idea that while religion and science (and certainly other fields like art, philosophy, etc.) differ in methodology, they relate in that they all seek to discover answers about the same exact questions, namely, “why are we here?” or “what is the nature of reality?” or “how does the world work?” While addressing these fundamental elements to the human experience and to the universe itself, science and faith may be more similar than most current scientists and religious people seem to think. In my own experience, I have found that many ardent Atheists in the sciences look down on the notion of a God, while religious people suggest Atheism to be an empty, cynical outlook. Perhaps these lines are more blurred, and science and faith may not be mutually exclusive, something Bacon may have been trying to show with his