Chapter 1b, The Plan of the Work Summary and Analysis

In the second part of The Great Instauration, Bacon lays out his plan for organizing scientific inquiry so as to end the stagnation of the progress of knowledge. The plan for science requires dividing into six parts: (i) The Divisions of the Sciences, (ii) The New Organon, (iii) The Phenomena of the Universe, (iv) The Ladder of the Intellect, (v) The Forerunners, and (vi) The New Philosophy.

The first part of the work requires a summary or description of humanity's present knowledge. The organization of human knowledge will help to analyze it and find out how to improve upon it. Organizing human knowledge requires dividing the sciences properly. But we need not take account only of things already created and known, as we may also look to identified, but...