• ***Bacon’s Worldly Wisdom Bacon was definitely a worldly wise man. He appears both as a wise and a shrewd person in the suggestions that he has advocated for worldly success in his essays. He was truly of the Renaissance: the age of accumulating knowledge, wealth and power. Being a true follower of Machiavellian principles, he led his life for worldly success. He was a man of shrewd and sagacious intellect with his eyes fixed on the way that would bring practical success. Consequently we find that what he has preached in his essays is only the knowledge needed for worldly success. There is no doubt that Bacon’s essays are a treasure house of worldly/practical wisdom. The term worldly/practical wisdom means a wisdom which is necessary for worldly/practical success. It does not need any deep philosophy or any ideal morality. But Bacon was a man of high wisdom, as he himself pronounced, “I have taken all knowledge to be my province”. Bacon also preached morality but his morality is subordinate to worldly success and he never hesitated to sacrifice it for worldly benefit. His essays are rich with the art which a man should employ for achieving success in his life: such as shrewdness, sagacity, tact, foresight, judgment of character and so on. The subject of Bacon in his essays is the man who needs prosperity in worldly terms. Bacon’s essays bring men to ‘come home to men’s business and bosoms’. He teaches them how to exercise one’s authority and much more. When he condemns cunning, he condemns it not because it is a hateful and vile thing, but because it is unwise. That is why the wisdom in his essay is considered a ‘cynical’ kind of wisdom. He describes his essays as ‘Counsels – civil and moral’. In his essay “Of Truth”, Bacon appreciates truth and wishes people to speak the truth. He says: “A lie faces God and shrinks from man.” He warns human beings against the punishment for the liar on the doomsday. But at the same time, he considers a lie as an ‘alloy’ which increases the strength of gold and feels it necessary for survival on earth. He says: “A lie doth ever add pleasure.” —this is purely a statement of a “worldly wise man”. The essay “Of Great Places” contains a large number of moral precepts, yet in this very essay he preaches like a utilitarian with eyes and mind fixed on worldly success. “It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty; By pains men come to greater pains”. Then Bacon suggests that men in authority should work not only for the betterment of public but also for their own status: “All rising to great place is by a winding stair; and if there be factions, it is good to side a man’s self whilst he is rising and to behave himself when he is placed.” It is purely a utilitarian advice and it surely holds a compromise between morality and worldly success. Even when Bacon urges a man not to speak ill of his predecessor, it is not because of high morality but because of the fact that the man who does not follow advice would suffer with unpleasant consequences. The essay “Of Studies” provides us with a number of suggestions and guidelines that one needs for practical success. He advises people to study as “studies serve for delight, for ornament and for ability”. He also fixes the limit of studies and its uses for true success, as he says: “To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament is affectation; to make judgment wholly by them is the humour of a scholar”. Bacon believes that a man without education is not a perfect man and the natural abilities of an uneducated man are “like natural plants” and these raw, unrefined human abilities can be perfected by studies. Bacon’s comment on the functions of different study-subjects also prove him to be a perfectly practical man. He rightly says that “history makes men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend”. Even like a doctor he prescribes which subject is fit for which person. As he says, “If a man’s wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; if his wit be not apt to distinguish or find difference, let him study the schoolmen; if he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyer’s cases”. As a practical guide he suggests people the proper utilization of studies. He says, “Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider”. Bacon’s approach towards studies is not only practical and pragmatic but also purely utilitarian. As in this essay “Of Studies”, he emphasizes on study not for its own sake, but for the benefit which it can provide to man to be supplemented by practical experience. As he says,” Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man,” and suggests that if one “read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not”. He also suggests how tactfully one should approach different subjects of knowledge to ensure maximum benefit from studies. He says, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Bacon, in this essay, also points out the effects of different branches of studies on a man’s mind and thinks it helpful in the cure of different mental ailments and follies. In the essay “Of Revenge” Bacon makes a compromise between morality and utilitarianism. Like a moralist he says,“Revenge is a kind of wild justice; One who studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds green,” and believes that dignity lies in forgiving one’s enemy. But like an utilitarian he says revenge is just in the cases when one can save one’s skin from the hands of law. Bacon showed a certain incapacity for emotions in the essay “Of Friendship”. He took the relation of friendship for its benefit and made a purely worldly approach to the subject which intimately deals between two persons. He gave us the uses and abuses of friendship. He says: “Those that want friends to open themselves unto, are cannibals of their own hearts.” This essay clearly shows Bacon’s cynical wisdom and that his morality is stuffed with purely utilitarian considerations. The essay “Of Love” is another example of Bacon’s utilitarian views and worldly wisdom. He considers love as a ‘child of folly’ and says that “it is impossible to love and to be wise” simultaneously. Bacon is completely a practical man always thinking of material comfort and worldly success in the essay “Of Marriage and Single Life”. He frankly speaks of the advantages and disadvantages and suggests guidelines for those who should marry and who should not. He considers wife and children as hindrance on the way of success and progress. He believes that “he that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune” and that “the best works, and of greatest merit for the public have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men. He rightly points out the positive and negative sides of a single life when he says that “unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best servants; but not always best subjects”. Afterwards in this essay, he tells the ‘benefits’ of having wives and children. As he says, “Wives are young men’s mistresses, companion to middle age and old man’s nurse” and “Wife and children are certainly a kind of discipline of humanity.” All these statements show his essentially mean and benefit seeking attitude, even in the matters of heart. In short, Bacon’s essays are a “hand book” of practical wisdom enriched with maxims which are very helpful for worldly wisdom and success.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 11:26:09 +0000
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