ABSTRACT
Francis Bacon first lauds the excellence of knowledge in general and learning in particular, and the value of augmenting and propagating both. In the second, he takes stock of which subjects have been embraced and which have been undervalued. Bacon begins with an argument as to why learning itself must be advanced, and why it is against neither the will of God nor the interests of the state to do so. As Bacon correctly noted, "The syllogism is not applied to the first principles of sciences, and is applied in vain to intermediate axioms, being no match for the subtlety of nature. Knowledge and power are not one and the same for Bacon, but they are closely related. He stipulates that "nature to be commanded must be obeyed." The misevaluation of human capacity is a significant component of Bacon's argument, and the link to his connecting power with knowledge, the single most misunderstood and misquoted element of Bacon's philosophy.
