Experimental misunderstandings: the precedent of Francis Bacon’s ‘Sylva Sylvarum’ and the beginnings of the Royal Society
Presenter: Guido Giglioni
Published: July 2013
Age: 14-19 and upwards
Views: 1419 views
Tags: francis
Type: Lectures
Source/institution: Royal Society
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Guido Giglioni is the Cassamarca Lecturer in Neo-Latin Culture and Intellectual History at the Warburg Institute, University of London. By writing a number of natural histories and above all the Sylva Sylvarum, Bacon set an important but difficult precedent in the history of experimental science, especially among the first natural practitioners gathered around the Royal Society. This talk will explore the notion of Ôexperimental metaphysicsÕ, the hybrid discipline that, especially in the Sylva Sylvarum, Bacon left as an awkward legacy to his experimental followers.