Francis Bacon: Knowledge Is Power

Knowledge is power. But did you know that when Francis Bacon said that, he wasn't exactly talking about how knowledge is useful for getting things you want? He was talking about what knowledge is, not what you can do with it.

And what it is is the ability to change things by understanding their causes. More or less. Here's a Bacon line on the subject:

Knowledge and human power are synonymous, since the ignorance of the cause frustrates the effect; for nature is only subdued by submission, and that which in contemplative philosophy corresponds with the cause in practical science becomes the rule.

There's no knowledge without practically doing something in the world.

OK, so he really was talking about how knowledge is useful for getting things you want. It just wasn't exactly that. That's more a watered-down version of the idea.

This is in Bacon's Novum Organon, the "New Instrument" meant to replace Aristotle's philosophy.

I did a whole series of videos introducing the philosophy in this book. Much to learn you still have, and I can help you with some of the philosophy.

And much to learn I still have--even about philosophy. I wasn't thorough, and I wouldn't put it past me to have said something stupid, like, "We don't need to worry about translations because Bacon is a British philosopher." (Even they write in Latin sometimes. This one did.)

Here’s where you can subscribe to me on Rumble, and here’s the Rumble channel for Bacon, where several of the videos have aired. Here’s my YouTube Bacon playlist. There will be a total of sixteen videos, airing on Monday. The first two are below, followed by an unrelated photo.