I’ve written at length about the life, accomplishments, and ideas Francis Bacon left behind, but now I propose one final argument about why we should learn about Francis Bacon. Most people have likely heard of Bacon to some degree, likely in reference to the scientific method and his important work in shaping that, but there’s rarely any effort to go in-depth into his works. If we did, especially reading excerpts of the Novum Organum, I believe there is a lot of interesting philosophy in there. The last third of this class is very devoted to the questions of empiricism, and I believe Bacon had a great influence on empiricism, inspiring many of its founding authors through his works devoted to rethinking scientific understanding. As we read Locke, Berkeley, and Hume, a background knowledge of Bacon can help to understand how empiricism evolved from his thinking and has its background in evolving scientific understanding. Francis Bacon is also an interesting case being that he is not as well known as a philosopher but rather a scientist, similar to how Newton and Leibniz are known more as mathematicians than as philosophers by those entering this class. Having more figures like this could engage STEM majors who have to take this class as part of a minor or cluster but don’t see how philosophy actually matters. It could also allow those with a primary interest in philosophy to see its application and connection to various fields outside of itself. Francis Bacon also helps to build skills of logical induction, which though not as prevalent as deductive reasoning in much of modern philosophy, is a useful skill to learn for its application in and outside of philosophy. Though this acts as a brief summary of what adding Francis Bacon to the syllabus may offer, I hope for the reasons presented the case of Francis Bacon is considered. In my research of him, I believe Bacon has been consistently overlooked in his ideas and influence when there is an abundance of knowledge in his writings, by adding Bacon to the syllabus, it recognizes his importance to philosophy as we know it.