Francis Bacon and the ‘vexations of art’
Experimentation as intervention
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8394549 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carolyn Merchant (University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 551-599 |
| Publication date | 2013-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal for the History of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0874 • E-ISSN: 1474-001X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0007087411000665 |
| OpenAlex | W2001625625 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 22 |
Francis Bacon's concept of the ‘vexations of art’ ( vexationes artium ) entailed experimentation as an intervention into nature for the purpose of extracting its secrets. Although the standard edition of Bacon's works by Spedding, Ellis and Heath and the new Oxford edition by Graham Rees translate the phrase vexationes artium as the ‘vexations of art’, a significant number of scholars, translators and editors from the seventeenth century to the present have read Bacon's Latin as the ‘torment’ or ‘tortures of art’. Here I discuss these latter interpretations and speculate on the reasons for their association of the term with experimentation. While it may not be possible to say with certainty what Bacon meant by ‘vexation’, the context of his thought, the rich set of metaphors on which he drew and the interpretations of dozens of scholars over four centuries would seem to favour assigning a robust, interventionist meaning to vexare
Archaeology · Certainty · Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Intervention (counseling · Linguistics · Meaning (existential · Phrase · Set (abstract data type · Sociology · Classics · Computer Science · Historical Philosophy and Science · History · History of Science and Medicine · Philosophy · Psychology · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
Francis Bacon
The science question in feminism
Righteous Persecution
The Death of Nature
Francis Bacon
Science and The Human Comedy. Natural Philosophy in French Literature From Rabelais to Maupertuis
Chymists and Chymistry
Alchemy Vs. Chemistry
Alchemical culture and poetry in early modern England
In Defense of Bacon
Experiment as Intervention
Representing and intervening
Francis Bacon, Feminist Historiography, and the Dominion of Nature
Scientists and Amateurs
| Citations per year | 0.58 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2014 - 2025 (12) |
| Highly cited | No |