Dominating nature and colonialism. Francis Bacon’s view of Europe and the New World
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11348228 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mauro Scalercio (0000-0002-5652-0625, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras – Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 1076-1091 |
| Publication date | 2018-11-17 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of European Ideas (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0191-6599 • E-ISSN: 1873-541X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01916599.2018.1512282 |
| OpenAlex | W2892196572 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
Francis Bacon’s works are pervaded by the firm belief that he was living in a new epoch. He thought of this epoch as based on knowledge and mechanical arts, which would permit dominion over nature. This dominion arises from mankind’s taking concrete action to improve the living conditions of humanity. Defining the nature of this action leads to individuate a plural historical subjectivity in Bacon’s thought. The different kinds of agency, and different kinds of technologies, define peoples in ethnological and spatial terms. Imperiality, that is human dominion over nature, implies the necessity of improving the conditions of the whole mankind, in a manner that opens the way of thinking in which ‘backward’ peoples are subject to this action of improvement. Colonialism is strictly related to imperiality. The idea of colonialism, in the New World in particular, rests on the assumption that human race can improve its living conditions, exercising power over nature. Therefore, imperiality and colonialism are not simply a tool of a British dominion, but elements of the new epoch that Bacon is theorising. In this sense, imperiality and colonialism are part of the philosophical structure of Bacon’s modernity
Action (physics · Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Colonialism · Dominion · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Humanity · Modernity · Plural · Political science · Power (physics · Sociology · Subject (documents · Subjectivity · Theology · Computer Science · Historical Philosophy and Science · History · Law · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Scottish History and National Identity
| Citations per year | 0.71 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2025 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |