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An adherent of Baconianism. There are two related but distinct strands of Baconianism which believe respectively: i) That Francis Bacon is the probable author of the literary works ascribed to the actor William Shakespeare, either alone or as head of a creative group. ii) That Bacon was not only the genius behind Shakespeare, but also the true author of certain other English. and even European masterpieces such as Don Quixote. This is often deemed part of an elaborate conspiracy undertaken by a Freemasonic or Rosicrucian order for the purpose of raising the consciousness of the world, exploiting the power of printing to disseminate spiritually-elevating thoughts. (It should also be noted that some who believe in a benign Rosicrucian cultural conspiracy reject or ignore the question of Bacon authorship of Shakespeare). Many Baconians of the esoteric persuasion hold that Bacon and his fellow occultists encoded secret messages or cryptograms into printed books, using both text and image. Bacon himself is believed by some to have told an outlandish secret history through such cryptogrammic methods. Title of the journal of the Francis Bacon Society. It was taken from Archbishop Thomas Tenison's 1679 publication of certain fascinating and hiterto unpublished Bacon manuscripts. In a sense, Tenison's Baconiana is the founding work of Baconianism, in that an Archbishop of Canterbury disclosed that some of Bacon's great works had another people's names on them. One of Bacon's first philosophical writings (never printed) was called Temporis Partus Masculus - The Masculine Birth of Time, or Temporis Partus Maximus, The Greatest Birth of Time. Bacon considered that he was merely articulating a method whose time had come, so that the results were not due to his own special intelligence. He also viewed this method (organum) as putting men's wits on a level, rendering many people agents of the birth of time. Time, Chronos in Greek was associated with the ancient deity Kronos, in turn associated with the planet known to us as Saturn. Kronos' greatest masculine child was Zeus. With his lifelong familiarity with classical poetry and allegory (much of it published in his The Wisdom of the Ancients), Bacon was surely associated his work with Zeus, greatest of all Greek gods. William F. and Elizabeth Friedman were a husband and wife team of leading cryptographers. William broke Japan's PURPLE cipher in 1940, thus giving America a lasting edge in World War II. Accordingly, their almost universally critical publication, The Shakespeare Ciphers Examined (1957), destroyed the strained credibility of the various Baconian cryptograms. Despite the reluctance of some Baconians to accept this, the Friedmans were quite right: no Baconian claims for cryptograms met the standards for a valid decipherment. Nevertheless, there is more to the issue of cipher than the cryptograms expertly demolished by the Friedmans. It is interesting to observe that both Friedmans' lives were directly influenced by Baconianism. William's original interest in cryptography was sparked by the Shakespeare cryptogram literature, and Elizabeth had even worked as an assistant for the great Baconian Elizabeth Wells Gallup, who was the only deciphere they were unable to refute outright in their book. Bacon's scheme for the establishment of the true science that would underpin the scientific utopia of the New Atlantis. He knew that it was beyond him to complete, but hoped that future scientists would build on his plan and complete the work. Bacon diagnosed four characteristic kinds error that beset human thought processes. They may be summarised as: 1. Idols of the Tribe - arising from human mind's tendency to judge the world by itself, thus distorting truth rather than reflecting it. This perennial human buas is often criticised as anthropocentrism in our time. 2. Idols of the Cave - these are personal to each individual and coloured by particular life-experiences, reading, education etc. Thus thought is biased by the arbitrary emphases of a person's own life, which are overrated in importance. 3. Idols of the Market-Place - language and human communication disrupt thought, in that careless language makes the discovery truth impossible. This area of philosophy had to wait until Ludwig Wittgenstein in the 20th century to receive a treatment worthy of Bacon's remarkably pithy treatment. 4. Idols of the Theatre - Bacon regarded all previous philosophies as fictions or stage-plays, whereby philosophers explained life through imaginary entities. Examples used by Bacon include the "element of fire" and the "Prime Mover" of earlier philosophy. Bacon is most famous for his criticism of the method (organum) of Aristotle. Understanding of nature's laws should arise from sufficient experience; but according to Bacon, earlier philosophers often started from unproven generalisations and deduced particulars; or else they made hasty generalisations from very few experiments. This attitude of Bacon's, and its context in Novum Organum, became so prevalent that it virtually formed the basis of scientific thought - in theory. However, no single scientist after Bacon ever used his method of induction, and inevitably his philosophy of science came under attack from Sir Karl Popper and others, who see science as following a 'hypothetical-deductive' method. This has led to much pedantic wrangling about whether Bacon deserves to be called scientific by the (lofty) standards of today's science. However, it is arguable that as computer science and other information disciplines develop, a rediscovery of Bacon's methodology is likely to occur. Bacon's private chaplain, and literary executor following Bacon's death. He released considered selections from previously unpublished manuscript fragments, keeping back a certain proportion. On his death, the remaining manuscripts passed to Thomas Tenison q.v. The Society was officially founded on 28 November 1660, but had its origins in the interest aroused by the new philosophy. This included the ground-breaking work of great scientists like Kepler and Galileo, but also the philosophy of systematic experimental science advanced by Bacon. The famous title piece of Thomas Sprat's History of the Royal Society (1667) shows a bust of Charles II flanked by William, Viscount Brouncker, first president of the Society and Bacon, described as Artium Instaurator. On the basis of presumed ciphers and other clues in the history and literature of Elizabethan England, some Baconians constructed an amazing tale in which Francis Bacon was the unacknowledged second son of Queen Elizabeth and the dispossesed but rightful King of England in the Tudor line. This account was developed by Dr. Owen and Mrs Elizabeth Wells Gallup in a series of writings that even its sympathisers must say owe more to channelling or 'inspiration' than reasonable decryption. What may give sceptics pause for thought is that a reasonable proportion of these claims stand up to historical scrutiny, quite apart from their intrinsic interest and curiosity value as unintentional historical romances. Although developed by non-rational means, some of the 'secret history' is far from totally absurd. If this is so, it is probably because even the most irrational Baconians have had a historical grasp and empathy for Elizabethan England that is on a par with leading orthodox academics. One who subscribes to the received belief that the actor William Shakespeare, who was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, was the author of the plays and poems normally associated with his name. Tenison was Archbishop of Canterbury, an early Baconian and in effect Bacon's literary executor after the death of William Rawley (q.v). His publication of Baconiana, Or Certain Genuine Remains of Sr. Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, and Viscount of St. Albans... (1679) is a landmark in Bacon studies due to its open acknowledgement of Bacon as a concealed author in the following words: "And those who have true skill in the Works of the Lord Verulam, like great Masters in Painting, can tell by the Design, the Strength, the way of Colouring, whether he was the Author of this or the other Piece, though his Name be not to it". (Tenison's Baconiana, 1679, p.78) |
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