The corpuscular matter theory of Francis Bacon. A Reevaluation

MANZO, SILVIA

St. Andrews, Escocia

Conferencia; IV International Conference Research: Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories, Foundation for the Intellectual History; 1996

Foundation for the Intellectual History

Explanation of the causes wich led Bacon to change his mind about the explanatory value of Atomism. The change showed in Novum Organum was produced by Bacon´s claim that the extreme points are useless for the dominion over nature. In contrast, larger profit is provided by those theories that refer to the "middle" causes of nature. From this asumption, Bacon criticised the atomism. He was never an atomist in the Democritean mode, but he employed a sort of vitalistic corpuscularianism. Examination of central role played by weight in Bacon´s material schematisms (heavy matter) and spiritual matter (weightless). NOTA: Adjunto la versión final que fue publicada como artículo (Francis Bacon and Atomism: A reappraisal) en el volumen "Late Medieval and Early Modern Corpuscular Matter Theories", J. Murdoch, Ch. Lüthy, W. Newmann, eds., Brill, 2001.