Francis Bacon: Emotional Barrenness, practical thinking, worldly wisdom, pragmatic and utilitarian values

Francis Bacon, regarded by many as the father of English prose and ‘the first notable example of the empiricist tendencies of English thought’, keenly experienced and observed human mind, human activities as well as human life and wrote down them in his short but meditative essays on different topics. Most of them are written on abstract but practical values of human life and there is no touch of emotion but full of practical thinking, worldly wisdom and pragmatic values in them. For this reason Bacon is often termed as ‘emotionally barren’ and as ‘practical thinker’ ‘utilitarian philosopher’ ‘pragmatic essayist’. Now we shall try to prove it, giving references from his essays and analogy with and contrast to others.

[There are two opposite words – ‘emotional’ and ‘practical’. For example, if any one does anything emotionally, we say to him ‘be practical’. Similarly, if we call Bacon to be ‘emotionally barren’, then in which way is he fertile? The answer is that he is ‘practically fertile’. Now, as both two phrases are intermingled in same idea, the same example can be explained for the both.]

We have to keep it in mind that Bacon is influenced by Machiavelli who shows a practical way to fulfill one’s desire. Machiavelli says, “Ends justify the means.”  According to him you have to reach your goal by any means, either fair or bad. There is no demand of emotion or conventional morality to him.

In the essay, ‘Of Truth’, we see Bacon’s emotional barrenness, practicality and Machiavelli’s influence, and above all Bacon as a keen observer of human nature. He says –

          “A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure.”

And,

          “…mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and silver.”

There is no emotion here rather than a naked truth of our life. We find an analogy with our life. We often deliver our speech or tell our story, adding some addition with a view to getting pleasure or making our speech or story stronger, more effective and more believable. In fact, whatever is said, without a mixture of falsehood with truth, the truth becomes, we can say, almost lifeless.

However, Bacon does not deny the grandeur of truth and demerits of lie. He says –

“Certainly it is heaven upon earth to have a man’s mind more in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.”

Actually, here he wants to say that without wanting an ‘emotional heaven’ after life, we can make the very earth (to be) ‘practical heaven’ by our true and good deeds. So, all these examples prove Bacon’s emotional barrenness, practical wisdom as well as pragmatic values.

I think love is the most emotional idea on the earth. Bacon has also written an essays on love namely ‘Of Love’. But there is no love story or emotional appeal rather than a harsh observation of love in it. He says at the very first,

          “The stage is more beholding to love, than the life of man.”  

Here he does not emotionally say that love is life, or love is world. Rather he practically wants to say that the ‘emotion- making stage or theatre,’ not the practical life of man is the most suitable to love. Because… According to him love and wisdom can not grow together in a man, because a lover does many things foolish. For example, the famous lover ‘Mojnu’ in folk-tale used to kiss the dust of the feet of the dog of his beloved’s house in order to get touch of the dust touched by his beloved.

Now if we want to get an example from a writer or poet, emotionally fertile, we can refer to Keats. Seeing a picture of a lover stooping to kiss his beloved, depicted on an urn, Keats says emotionally

          “Bold lover, never, never canst though kiss,

            Though winning near the goal –”

Actually this kind of emotion can never be found in Bacon. Bacon is governed by his intellect not by emotion. In ‘Of Studies,’ he reveals the functions of studies, attitudes of different sorts of men towards reading, implicit suggestion for how to read and what to read etc, and not any fable or emotionally religious speech regarding studies or reading. For example, Muslim theology says reading each letter of the Holy Quran by a man earns ten good deeds (sawab) for him. Bacon says –

          “Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.”

This means some study for their enjoyments, some for decorating their conversations and some for increasing their skill. He further says –

“Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them.”

We can mention another most quoted example from this essay –

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”

That is, some books are to be read simply and partly and some to be read hastily, and a few to be read carefully and word by word. So all of these examples show that there is nothing to prove Bacon as emotional but as practically wise.

Similarly, we can mention many examples in favour of Bacon’s emotional barrenness from all of his texts especially from ‘of Marriage and Single Life,’ ‘Of Revenge’, ‘Of Superstition’, etc.

However, in contrast with Bacon, we can refer to Lamb who is emotionally fertile in his essays. He says in the “Christ’s Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago” –

“This petty Nero actually branded a boy, who had offended him,   with a red hot iron; nearly starved forty of us, with exacting contribution to one half of our bread, to pamper a young ass…….”

In this autobiographical essay, Lamb criticizes the persecution and cruelty of a senior boy as well as a school authority towards small and helpless boy. This arouses in us very pathetic emotion which can not be found in Bacon.

Actually, after Romantic Movement, the writers began to involve greatly the personal feelings, emotion etc in their writings. On the other hand, the writers before Romantic era neglected ‘Subjectivity’ or personal feelings, emotion etc. Rather they cultivated ‘Objectivity’ – that is, what was socially important was important to them. In fact the characteristics of age are evident both in Bacon and Lamb. It is mentionable that the subjects of all of the essays of Bacon are social not personal. This may be the cause of Bacon’s being emotionally barren. This also reveals the Renaissance spirit in his essays.

“Diderot said of Bacon that his work amounted to a map of what men had to learn; He has often been described in terms of a prophet standing on the edge of the promised land of scientific knowledge.”( Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy by Simon Blackburn; P.34)

As science and scientific knowledge does not work on the basis of emotion, Bacon’s works do not possess any emotion as well, rather they show Francis Bacon scientific method of evaluating human life.

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In conclusion, from the above discussion, it has been clear that Bacon was is totally emotionally barren rather a practical thinker. Bacon the philosopher is directed by his head not by his heart. From Francis Bacon quotes especially from each of his essays we get some intellectual elements and lessons of a truly experienced teacher. Though he uses a number of figurative languages, those do not cast our imagination and emotion – as the writings of other writers do. But the pragmatic value and the practical wisdom in his essays must attract our attention.

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