inferior to classical antiquity; and that the races of the earth
form now a sort of "mundane republic."

CHAPTER II

UTILITY THE END OF KNOWLEDGE: BACON

1.

Among the great precursors of a new order of thought Francis Bacon
occupies a unique position. He drew up a definite programme for a
"great Renovation " of knowledge; he is more clearly conscious than
his contemporaries of the necessity of breaking with the past and
making a completely new start; and his whole method of thought seems
intellectually nearer to us than the speculations of a Bruno or a
Campanella. Hence it is easy to understand that he is often
regarded, especially in his own country, as more than a precursor,
as the first philosopher, of the modern age, definitely within its
precincts. [Footnote: German critics have been generally severe on
Bacon as deficient in the scientific spirit. Kuno Fischer, Baco van
Verulam (1856). Liebig, Ueber Francis Bacon van Verulam und die
Methode der Naturforschung (1863). Lange (Geschichte des
Materialismus, i. 195) speaks of "die aberglaubische und eitle
Unwissenschaftlichkeit Bacos."]

It is not indeed a matter of fundamental importance how we classify
these men who stood on the border of two worlds, but it must be
recognised that if in many respects Bacon is in advance of
contemporaries who cannot be dissociated from the Renaissance, in
other respects, such as belief in astrology and dreams, he stands on