The Advancement of Learning, published by Francis Bacon in 1605, surveys the state of human knowledge and argues for its reform and expansion. Bacon criticizes the errors and limitations of existing scholarship and calls for a new, observation-based method of inquiry into nature.
A foundational document of the Scientific Revolution, the work helped inspire the empirical, experimental approach that would transform European thought. Bacon’s vision of organized, useful knowledge anticipated the scientific institutions of the following century. This free EPUB edition presents the complete text for readers interested in the history of science, philosophy, and early modern intellectual culture.