Bacon’s science reinforced early capitalism’s growth and progress tendencies

Evidence

The Baconian program, so important to the rise of Western science, contained within it a set of attitudes about nature and the scientist that reinforced the tendencies toward growth and progress inherent in early capitalism. While Bacon himself had no intimation as to where his goals might ultimately lead, nor was he responsible for modern attitudes, he was very sensitive to the trends and directions of his own time and voiced them eloquently. The expansive tendencies of his period have continued, and the possibility of their reversal is highly problematical. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 740

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Relevant to the ‘growth-and-development coalition’ thread running through ch46 and to the sacrifice article’s interest in what ideologies license resource extraction.
• XREF: connects to: Bacon’s utopia was more patriarchal and market-driven than prior communal utopias. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 365; Bacon’s scientific program chiefly benefited the middle-class male entrepreneur. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 657; Bacon’s scientific program served capitalist and state interests, not the poor’s — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 701 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• The idea of progress was born when society gained rational control over nature #expands (0.80)
• The ideology of scientific progress legitimated class hierarchy rather than lifting the poor #expands (0.75) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 712