In the following excerpt, Hirsch offers a disinterested assessment of the philological theory and practice of Bacon, tracing possible sources and assessing his influence.

Gilson was a prominent and prolific Neo-Thomist philosopher. He was the founder and longtime director of the Institute of Mediaeval Studies in association with St. Michael's College, the University of Toronto. In the following excerpt, Gilson offers a detailed overview of Bacon's beliefs as a philosopher and as a reformer.

Newbold was the Adam Seybert Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania until his death in 1926. He was a master at decoding ciphers, a lifelong passion, and he spent considerable time and industry deciphering the Voynich Manuscript—a discourse on natural science by Bacon, written in cipher, and purchased in or about 1912 by Wilfrid M. Voynich, a specialist in rare books and manuscripts. Newbold lectured on the Voynich Manuscript in 1921 before the College of Ph...

In the following excerpt, Crombie demonstrates the influence of Robert Grosseteste 's thought upon Bacon 's scientifictheories.

In the following excerpt, Taylor offers a balanced examination of Bacon's attitude toward Scripture and the doctrines of the Church, his views of the state of knowledge in his time, and his interest in optics and experimental science.

In the following excerpt, Easton sketches the philosophy of science "which Bacon took for granted as his intellectual framework, but himself never stated in formal terms.'

Hackett has written extensively on Bacon's works. In the following excerpt, he examines four of Bacon's works to discern the identity of the "unnamed master" derided by Bacon in his writings and to determine the reason for Bacon's objections to the science of this mysterious authority.

In the essay below, Hackett seeks to demonstrate that Bacon managed to reproduce the essential teaching of Averroes's treatise Kitab fasl al-maqal (The Decisive Treatise Determining the Nature of the Connection between Religion and Philosophy); he posits that the two men shared essentially the same belief regarding the harmony of religion and philosophy.

Lindberg has written extensively on Bacon's accomplishment and is the editor of Roger Bacon's Philosophy of Nature: A Critical Edition with English Translation, Introduction, and Notes of "De multiplicatione specierum" and "De speculis comburentibus" (1983). In the following excerpt, he seeks to demonstrate that "Bacon was not a modern, out of step with his age, or a harbinger of things to come, but a brilliant, combative, and somewhat eccentric schoolman of...

In the following essay, Kupfer examines Bacon's credentials as the true father of empiricism for awarding "utility, observation, and 'experience' the central place in his philosophy of science and knowledge. '

Steele was one of the editors of the twelve-volume Opera Hactenus Inedita Fratris Rogeri Baconis (1905-40). In the following excerpt, he places Bacon within the context of his world and of his scholarly contemporaries, summarizing Bacon's contributions to knowledge in several fields of learning.

In the following excerpt from a work originally published in 1927, Sarton surveys Bacon's achievement, arranged by discipline, referring occasionally to his unfinished Compendium philosophiae.

In the following essay, Mayer discourses upon Bacon's achievement, arguing that Bacon, far from being a dabbler in medieval magic, was a scholar who believed that the pursuit of scientific knowledge was complementary to Christian belief, not antithetical to it.

In the following excerpt, an anonymous critic surveys Bacon's career and outlines Bacon's character based on his writings.

In the following excerpt, Plumptre offers a general estimate of Bacon's teaching on universals and of his views on ethical and political philosophy. The critic also discusses the relation in which Bacon stood to the religious life of Oxford and of England.

In the following excerpt, Woodruff examines the role of Bacon as a critic of and among the Schoolmen, comparing his philosophical emphases with those of Thomas Aquinas, Alexander of Hales, and others.

Morris was Lecturer on Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and an Associate of the Victoria Institute, London. In the following excerpt, he surveys Bacon's accomplishment as the work of a martyr to the cause of scientific and philosophical truth: a "wonder," whose profound works went unappreciated in the "darkness of the Middle Ages" and are superior to those of his descendent, Francis Bacon.

A respected and prolific author, Russell was an English philosopher and mathematician known for his support of humanistic concerns. Two of his early works, Principles of Mathematics (1903) and Principia Mathematica (1910-13), written with Alfred North Whitehead, are considered classics of mathematical logic. His philosophical approach to all his endeavors discounts idealism or emotionalism and asserts a progressive application of his "logical atomism," a process whereby individual facts are l...

In the following excerpt, Weinberg succinctly summarizes Bacon's philosophy and its significance.

In the following excerpt, Dawson summarizes the significance of Bacon's thought and its originality, citing him as a key example of the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake.

In the following excerpt, Maxwell summarizes Bacon's significance as an enlightener of the modern mind, emphasizing his role as a persecuted seeker of truth.

Brewer was Professor of English Literature at King's College, London, and Reader at the Rolls. By the authority of Queen Victoria 's Treasury and under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, he edited a one-volume edition of Bacon's works which includes Opus Minus, Opus Tertium, Compendium studii philosophiae, and Epistola fratris Rogeri Baconis de secretis operibus artis et naturae, et de nullitate magiae. In the following excerpt, Brewer summarizes the significance of Bacon'...

Wood was an historian whose works are primarily concerned with the City and University of Oxford. In the following excerpt from a chapter reprinted from his Historia et Antiquitates Universitatis Oxoniensis (1674), he provides a brief overview of Bacon's significance in advancing human knowledge.