ABSTRACT
A curious phenomenon in the history of philosophy is the emergence of myths about philosophers or philosophical schools, ‘received ideas’ which bear little relation to reality, but which persist for many years and prove hard to eradicate. One such myth is that Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was hostile to Renaissance humanism, both as a discipline and as a body of studies, and that he was in particular a foe of poetry and rhetoric. The erroneous conceptions of his attitude to these two branches of the studia humanitatis have been exposed,1 although scholars ignorant of this literature continue to repeat them. As for the general misconception of Bacon being an enemy of humanism itself, that seems to be spreading steadily, unchallenged and uncorrected. Thus, in a recent and valuable Companion to Renaissance Humanism, one reads the pronouncement by Anthony Grafton that: ‘Bacon treated Renaissance humanism…as a fatal disease of learning.’2 Four sentences follow, purportedly summarizing Bacon’s attitude to humanism, including the criticism that: ‘The philology of the humanists, with its obsessive citation and imitation of authorities, had been an intellectual distraction from the thinker’s true mission of extending man’s empire.’ No texts by Bacon are quoted, and no critical discussions are cited.3
