OF Great Place
The first master of the essay form in English, Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was confident that of all his works in "The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral (1625) would "last as long as books last." One of the best-known essays from that enduring collection is "Of Great Place."
In his analysis of the essay, contemporary rhetorician Richard Lanham describes Bacon's style as "clipped," "curt," "compressed" and "pointed".
The Essay Of Great Place written by Francis Bacon, a famous English philosopher, and
scientist whose aphorism (terse sentences ) Scientia potential est (knowledge is power ) is known to everyone in the world,
represents a lot of interesting philosophical ideas. These ideas can be easily related to
the present day principles and concepts. The philosophy of Francis Bacon is concluded in
the fact that the major goal of scientific knowledge lies in providing benefit to the
humanity. (Anderson, 1992, p.124)
My goal in this essay in to give a critical analysis of Francis Bacon’s philosophical work Of
the Great Place.
The main idea of the essay is to show the readers the position of men in great places.
Francis Bacon discusses the life, duties, and behavior of those people who occupy a high
position in the society. BACON SAYS;
“men in great place are thrice servents “
He writes that all the people who live in great places are “thrice
servants”. They are servants of the sovereign or state, fame, and business. Moreover,
they have no freedom although they enjoy power.
“it is a strange desire to seek power and lose liberty “
It is a very interesting idea that
powerful people have no liberty. But its true. They have power over other people who
occupy a lower position in the society but they “lose power” over themselves.
Francis Bacon argues(to present reason for against thing) that it is very difficult “to raise into place”. People should be strong and self-confident to take a high position in the society.
He writes that “by indignities,
men come to dignities”. Moreover, they can easily lose their position that is why they
should be uncompromising in their goals and desires. Even in the old ag,e great men
should not change their manners.
As Francis Bacon is a great philosopher who not only knows a lot about human nature
but also tries to teach others, to share his knowledge with people around him.
In his essay Of the Great Place, Bacon touches upon the problem of other people’s opinion
concerning “great men”.
He writes that great persons should “borrow other men’s
opinion” because they can get a lot of interesting and important things for them. The
great men cannot judge themselves. They should learn what other people think of them
in order to remain on the top of the ladder. (Bacon, 2006, p.4)
Bacon expresses a very interesting thought when he writes that;
“ the great men are the
first to find their own griefs(sharp sorrow; painful regret), though they be the last to find their own faults”.
He is sure that it is very difficult for those people who have money and power to find their own
faults. They do not see their faults. It seems to them that they have no faults while they
have a lot of them. Only other people can show them their faults. That is why the great
men are interested in learning other people’s opinion. When Bacon says that the great
people are the first to find their griefs, he means that they love themselves so much that
cannot stand any trouble or misfortune. They have power and money and they do not
want to have any griefs in their life. (Gaukroger, 2001, p.56)
Francis Bacon calls these people “strangers to themselves”.
The great men are fully involved in their business that they
“have no time to ten for their health, their body and their mind”.
The only things they are thinking about are power and money. Sometimes
they simply forget about their health. And only when they get problems with health they
come down to earth and realize that they are merely human beings.
The great philosopher also touches upon the theme of good and evil in his essay.
He argues that;
“in place, there is a license to do good and evil”.
Evil is curse(trouble). Only those people who do good will be able to have rest. Good thoughts are better than good dreams because the men have an opportunity to bring their good thought to life. Bacon writes that
“merit (excellence; worth)and good works is the end of man’s motion”.
Any men should learn to do good in his life in order to get an award from God at the end of “the motion”.
Any man can be “a partaker of God’s theater” but he should deserve it. (Bacon, 2006, p.5) God’s theater is the world in which men act. God’s rest is heaven. The single most important principle that guided Bacon’s life and work was that men ought to labor for the good of mankind; especially men of talent and good birth, and most especially men of science. In order to do good, you must have some authority — the means to achieve your lofty aims.
“The power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring(aim)”.
The author of the essay tries to explain to the readers
that any man has an opportunity to analyze not only his own actions but also the actions of other people in order to understand what is good and what is bad.
They should
“neglect the examples of those that have carried themselves ill”.
They should follow only good examples. Moreover, the
great people should be role models to other people. They should learn good lessons from
their past life and take care of their future. Bacon writes:
“Seek to make thy course regular, that men may know beforehand what to expect”.
(Bacon, 2006, p.6)
The great philosopher also touches upon the theme of law.
It is a very important
question for him because the law in the society is a vital thing.
He teaches “to preserve the right of thy place, but stir no questions of jurisdiction”.
He also wants everyone to
preserve the rights of other places.
Bacon argues that there are four major vices of authority. They are corruption, delays,
roughness and facility.
In order to overcome delay, the great people should be punctual.
Bacon writes:
“give easy access, keep time appointed”. (Bacon, 2006)
Special attention is paid to corruption. Bacon writes that the great people should be
sincere to avoid corruption. For corruption, prosecute the bribers as well as the bribees. “And avoid not only the fault, but the suspicion.”
In order to avoid roughness, it is necessary to be kinder. The
facility is worse than bribery(rishwat). It is necessary to be more careful.
Francis Bacon argues that the great men should respect other people even if they are no
so powerful as they are.
He writes: “If you have colleagues, respect them”. (Bacon,2006, p.8)
The author of the essay wants those people who became great to have a change in their
nature. He wants them to become another men. (Gaukroger, 2001, p.201)
“All rising to great place is by a winding stair…”
Bacon’s life took more turns than most and his reputation continues to revolve as the centuries roll past. This is also wisdom from experience:
“if there be factions, it is good to side a man’s self, whilst he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is placed.”
You need a party to get elected, but once in the top seat, you need to represent the whole society.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, it is necessary to say that such a wise man as Francis Bacon could not
only show the strengths and the weaknesses of the great men of the society but also he
could give them some recommendations concerning their way of life, their behavior and
their principles. He was interested in the investigation of the human nature. His natural
philosophy was greatly appreciated because he represented absolutely new philosophical
ideas concerning the essence of life. Francis Bacon’s essay Of Great Place is one of his
bold philosophical works.
“A position of eminence(high rank) makes a great person greater and a small person less.”
“The philosophy of life is this: Life is not a struggle, not a tension... Life is bliss(supreme happiness). It is eternal wisdom, eternal existence.”
No comments:
Post a Comment