The New Atlantis

806 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Critical analysis of francis bacon of studies

The New Atlantis is a novel that tells the story of European explorers who come upon a utopian island civilization in North America named Bensalem. The author of this book, Sir Francis Bacon, is often considered the father of the scientific method and likely wrote this book to give us an idea of his perfect world devoted to the sciences. Society on the fictional island of Bensalem focuses on a scientific institution known as Salomon’s House, where scientific experiments of all kinds are conducted using Bacon’s scientific method. Despite this deep devotion to science, Bensalem also closely follows the Christian religion, and much of the book is devoted to talking about the island’s Christian culture and customs. This summons an intriguing question: What role is there for religion in Bacon’s ideal society devoted to the sciences? This essay will attempt to discover what role religion has in Bacon’s ideal society and the connections between religion and science.

While the Christian religion plays an important part in Bensalem, certain peculiarities of Bensalem’s religious system suggest that Bacon thinks that religion’s role should be limited in society. In Bensalem, once a man lives to see thirty descendants, the government is required to pay for a feast for the man with a ceremony, that Bacon spends three pages describing (Bacon 12-14). This part of Bensalem’s religion seems to be unimportant to the good of the utopian society and just seems out of place in Bacon’s ideal world. Therefore, this could be Bacon’s way of quietly telling us his opinion that certain practices of religion are a waste of people’s resources and are unnecessary for the good of society. Despite Bensalem’s official religion of Christianity, many ...

... middle of paper ...

... own religion devoted to God.

Based on his novel The New Atlantis, Francis Bacon’s perfect society would have a place for both religion and the sciences. When Bacon seems to express criticisms of religion, he is only expressing some of the problems he sees caused by organized religions like Catholicism and Calvinism. Instead of these organized religions, Bacon believes that the future of religion is in science. Bacon sees the many great things science can accomplish for the world and is certain that science must be the way God intended for mankind to accomplish his will on Earth. In conclusion, Francis Bacon’s ideal society would not favor either religion or science, but would instead be devoted to the religion of science.

Works Cited

Bacon, Francis. The New Atlantis. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1901. The New Atlantis by Francis Bacon. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • The Scientific Revolution: The Disenchanting Of The Universe

    1331 Words  | 3 Pages

    The essay starts off by stating, “One could say that the dominant scientific world-view going into the 16th century was not all that “scientific” in the modern sense of the

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Stephen Jay Gould 'Biology In Context'

    1434 Words  | 3 Pages

    The respective areas of science and religion always seem to be overlapping, or stepping on the other area’s toes. In his book, Stephen Jay Gould addresses the topic of Non-Overlapping Magesteria, or NOMA. Gould examines the principles of NOMA as a solution to the supposed false conflict between religion and science. (Pg. 6) He starts off his argument on NOMA by telling a story of “Two Thomas’s.” The first Thomas is from the bible, of which he makes three appearances in the Gospel of John. The second Thomas, is a Reverend Thomas Burnet. Thomas the Apostle defends the magesteria of science in the wrong magesteria of faith, while the Reverend Thomas proclaims religious ideas within the magesteria of science.

    Read More

  • Religion's Role In Under The Cope Of Heaven?

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Columbus arrived on the Caribbean island of San Salvador in 1492, one of the first things he and his crew did was kneel in thanks (Moore, 2006). Early Spanish explorations of the present day United States were not complete without a missionary element. Even the British colonists tried to convert the eastern Natives to Christianity. Almost from the New World’s discovery, religion procured a dominant role in its early history. As one of the three main factors that drove settlement of America, religion and religious freedom grew to hold an important place in colonial culture and the heart of nearly every American. All too often, however, in a study of colonial history, religion’s role is misconstrued (Bonomi, 2003). In Under the Cope of Heaven, author Patricia Bonomi clarifies the importance of colonial religion through several different arguments, including religion’s entertainment value, the role in the Great Awakening, and ultimately the Great Awakening’s part in the American Revolution.

    Read More

  • Religion in Colonial America

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mathers, and John Winthrop. This paper will explore the writings of these three men and how their religious views shaped their literary works, styles, and their historical and political views.

    Read More

  • Wise Blood, by Flannery O’Connor

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gaustad, Edwin S. The Religious History of America: The Heart of the American Story from Colonial Times to Today. N.p.: HarperOne, 2004. Print.

    Read More

  • Plato and Bacon

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...nown, trained minds will build toward universal knowing, that is that the end of the work. In spite of his scientific approach, Bacon in no way discounted the religious content within the world. Knowledge may arise from inspiration. This was Bacon’s perception on the human mind.

    Read More

  • Witchcraft in the 15th century

    2105 Words  | 5 Pages

    In conclusion, though I have shown support for the religion theory most of all in this paper, I do believe that it was not one aspect that set this craze off. Many different theories overlapped to form this tragic and lengthy period of England’s history. Obviously, from the notes we’ve taken in this class, we realize that religion did and always will play a major role in England, or any other country for that matter. Perhaps from this spectacle of unnecessary death, we can learn that any institution, given too much power can, even unwillingly, prove dangerous.

    Read More

  • Religion's Role in Early American Exploration and Development

    1348 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout human history, religion has played a fundamental role in societal development, regardless of the culture. Christianity, in particular, has profoundly shaped the last two thousand years of history and continues to do so today. This holds true in the case of European development and exploration of the New World. As exploration in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries flourished, many countries set out to declare land on behalf of their country, and in an effort to bring honor to their God. When English settlers first developed colonies in New England, one of their goals was to share the word of God with the Native Americans they encountered. This drastically conflicted with the views of the Native Indians, and completely altered the development of North America. European religious views in early North American exploration set the tone for America’s development into a commodification driven society that exploited the environment as a means of economic potential.

    Read More

  • The Early Theorists

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is the 18th century and the Enlightenment, which is also known as the Age of Reason in Europe and America, and humankind faces an intellectual, philosophical and social movement that is focused on science and reason. Religion, politics and economics are changing focus. Wars are being fought within, as opposed to between countries. This time prior to the French Revolution finds monarchies being executed in France and England. The rising merchant class is demanding social and political power held previously by the nobility. There are major social changes, as inherited positions are less secure. People no longer believed that every event that occurred was a result of God’s intervention. There is a new way of thinking about religion, natural rights as well as natural laws. There is an attitude that God is the creator of a universe that functions without intervention. Deism believed in a hereafter, but also believed we should focus on this life’s achievements and joy, rather than look at a life in the hereafter. The concept of humanitarianism; helping those less fortunate, is a new concept during this time since prior to that the religious belief was that if someone experienced misfortune, it was God’s will and punishment. The Enlightenment focused on man, rather than God and the church. Where prior to the 1700s man lived in an agricultural society during the feudal period, the Enlightenment witnessed the development of a more cosmopolitan society, with people living in groups that were interdependent on each other. It opened the gateway to the Industrial Revolution. The Enlightenment inspired the world’s first democracy, in the United States of America. The new approach in reasoning and problem solving is what makes ...

    Read More

  • Sir Thomas More Utopia Analysis

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    He was largely intolerant of Protestants, to the point where when King Henry VIII split with the Catholic Church to form the new Anglican Church in 1532, he regarded the split as blasphemous. When Anne Boleyn passed away, he refused to attend the funeral, resulting in him being marked for death. However, in Utopia, Raphael describes the religion of Utopia, where any religion was allowed, however most religions were pagan versions of Catholicism (similar rites, and devotion to one entity, whether it be the Sun, Moon, animals, and whatnot). Atheism is however, not tolerated in the society. It is considered disrespectful and immoral. The Utopians believed that if someone did not belief in an afterlife that is influenced by your actions on Earth, they would simply act for carnal pleasure and disregard any type of future situation. The treatment of women in both Utopia and Thomas More’s England are both similar. While women were still considered “inferior” to the point where women were not allowed to be laborers because they were considered less strong than men, they still managed to have as much social status as men (just look at Queen Elizabeth, who followed Henry VIII in lineage). In Utopia however, religiously women are expected to be sexual tools for men and when things go wrong they are expected to take the blame. This is also reminiscent of the

    Read More

  • The Enlightenment- Attitudes of Society

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    The conflict between religion and science was one of the major issues of the enlightenment. New theories were being developed (like Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation) which went against the teachings of the c...

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On The Scientific Revolution

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...wever, in the best interest of advancing education and an enlightened society, science must be pursued outside of the realm of faith and religion. There are obvious faith-based and untestable aspects of religion, but to interfere and cross over into everyday affairs of knowledge should not occur in the informational age. This overbearing aspect of the Church’s influence was put in check with the scientific era, and the Scientific Revolution in a sense established the facet of logic in society, which allows us to not only live more efficiently, but intelligently as well. It should not take away from the faith aspect of religion, but serve to enhance it.

    Read More

  • Intellectuals by Paul Johnson

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    “One of the most marked characteristics of the new secular intellectuals was the relish with which they subjected religion and its protagonists to critical scrutiny. How far had they benefited or harmed humanity, these great systems of faith? To what extent had these popes and pastors lived up to their precepts, of purity and truthfulness, of charity and benevolence? The verdicts on both churches and clergy were harsh. Now, after two centuries during which the influence of religion has continued to decline, and secular intellectuals have played an ever-growing role in shaping our attitudes and institutions, it is time to examine their record, both public and personal. In particular, I want to focus on the moral and judgmental credentials of intellectuals to tell mankind how to conduct itself.”

    Read More

  • The Lost City Atlantis

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1882, Ignatius L. Donnelly published a book named “Atlantis: the Antediluvian World”. In this book, Donnelly tried to demonstrate his hypothesis that all known ancient civilizations were descended from a specific civilization, which was Atlantis. He observed that ancie...

    Read More

  • The Impact of the Scientific Revolution on Society and Religion

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over the course of the years, society has been reformed by new ideas of science. We learn more and more about global warming, outer space, and technology. However, this pattern of gaining knowledge did not pick up significantly until the Scientific Revolution. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the Scientific Revolution started, which concerned the fields of astronomy, mechanics, and medicine. These new scientists used math and observations strongly contradicting religious thought at the time, which was dependent on the Aristotelian-Ptolemy theory. However, astronomers like Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton accepted the heliocentric theory. Astronomical findings of the Scientific Revolution disproved the fact that humans were the center of everything, ultimately causing people to question theology’s role in science and sparking the idea that people were capable of reasoning for themselves.

    Read More

More about The New Atlantis

Open Document