I wondered if The New Atlantis had a cover illustration like The New Organon. I don't know if this image went with the original publication, but I found this illustration. It's almost comic in its depiction of Bacon's utopia. Men dressed in Elizabethan collars and beards peer curiously through telescopes and speak through string telephones. I'm not sure what the winged figure represents (did the scholars also learn to fly?), but if he represents a religious figure, it is significant that for all their study, no one sees him. Indeed, every man in the picture is wholly caught up in his present occupation and the microcosm of the island. This is exactly the problem that arises with Bacon and the Renaissance/Enlightenment philosophers; while not denying the importance of religion, they set out on a course of action whose end is only earthly. Their cause is noble - they want to improve life for man, to ease his pain and hold off death - but is it noble in comparison to the quest to save souls?
Maria: The New Atlantis was originally published with Bacon's compendium of "natural facts," the Sylva Sylvarum. You can see the frontispiece here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/medicine/BaconSylva1651tp.jpg
I like your point at the end. Do you think you would want to pursue this as a research project (I point you towards some others of Bacon's writings on religion and religious policy)?