• Home
• About the Edition
• Plan of the Edition
  • Vol. I: Early Writings to 1596
  • Vol. II: Writings, 1597–1602
  • Vol. III: Writings, 1603–1613
  • Vol. IV: The Advancement of Learning
  • Vol. V: Early Philosophical Writings
  • Vol. VI: Philosophy, 1611–1619
  • Vol. VII: Political and Legal Writings
  • Vol. VIII: King Henry the Seuenth
  • Vol. IX: De augmentis scientiarum, I-IV
  • Vol. X: De augmentis scientiarum, V–IX
  • Vol. XI: Novum organum and c.
  • Vol. XII: Hist. Naturalis; Hist. Vitæ
  • Vol. XIII: Last Writings
  • Vol. XIV: Sylva Sylvarum; New Atlantis
  • Vol. XV: Essayes and Counsels
• The Editors
• Abbreviations
• Style guide
• Editorial Conventions
• MS Sigla
• Contact

Volume V

Early Philosophical Writings to c.1611

Edited by Rhodri Lewis, Sophie Weeks and Daniel Andersson

Dating many of the texts in this volume is extremely difficult. With the exception of the De sapientia veterum, none were published in Bacon’s lifetime, and most are incomplete or unfinished. Be this as it may, these works are vital to any understanding of Bacon’s development as a philosophical (and natural philosophical) thinker in the years immediately before and after his Advancement of Learning. They give us a much clearer idea of what and how he read, thought and wrote at a time when he was first defining what his instauratio magna might look like. All but two of them are written in Latin. This volume will establish, annotate and translate these texts, making them newly accessible to interested scholars across a broad range of disciplines.

1. "Cogitationes de scientia humana" (CDSH) (n.d., before 1605?)
2. De interpretatione naturæ proœmium (DINP) (n.d., before 1605?)
3. Cogitationes de natura rerum (CDNR) (n.d., before 1605?)
4. Valerius Terminus of the interpretation of nature (VT) (n.d., by c.1603?)
5. Temporis partus masculus, sive de interpretatione naturae lib. 3 (TPM) (n.d., by c.1603?). Also incorporating:
   1. Tradendi modus legitimus (TML)
   2. Caput secundum (CSec)
6. Filum labyrinthi siue formula inquisitionis (FL) (n.d., before c.1607?)
7. De interpretatione naturæ sententiæ xii (DIN) (n.d., c.1607?)
8. Cogitata et visa de interpretatione naturæ (CV) (n.d., 1607–1608?)
9. Indicia vera de interpretatione naturæ (IVDI) (n.d., after 1607?)
10. Partis instaurationis secundæ delineatio & argumentum (PID) (n.d., c.1607?)
11. Redargutio philosophiarum (RPh) (n.d., c.1608?)
12. Scala intellectus sive filum labyrinthi (SI) (n.d.)
13. 1. Franciscus Bacon lectori (FBL) (n.d., 1607-08?)
    2. Filum labyrinthi sive inquisitio legitima de motu (FLIL) (n.d., 1607-08?)
    3. Inquisitio legitima de motu (ILM) (n.d., but copied 27 July 1608)
    4. Aphorismi et consilia de auxiliis mentis (AC) (n.d., c.1607?)
    5. Historia soni et auditus (HSA) (n.d, c.1608?)
    6. Calor et frigus (CFr) (n.d.)
    7. De sapientia veterum (DSV) (1609)