Bacon welded natural magic, mining, and patriarchy into an ethic of nature exploitation.

Evidence

Disorderly, active nature was soon forced to submit to the questions and experimental techniques of the new science. Francis Bacon (1561–1626), a celebrated “father of modern science,” transformed tendencies already extant in his own society into a total program advocating the control of nature for human benefit. Melding together a new philosophy based on natural magic as a technique for manipulating nature, the technologies of mining and metallurgy, the emerging concept of progress and a patriarchal structure of family and state, Bacon fashioned a new ethic sanctioning the exploitation of nature. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 656

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Bacon’s explicit ethic sanctioning exploitation of nature is the mechanism underlying the ecojustice strand’s critique of settler/extractive relationships to land.
• XREF: Bacon here links to ch13 where he completes the stepmother transformation urging miners to pry nature’s secrets. — connects to: Bacon completed the stepmother transformation by urging miners to pry nature’s secrets — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 206; Bacon’s scientific imagery derives from courtroom and witch-torture interrogations of women. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 667; Bacon promised that mechanical arts would conquer and subdue nature — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 683 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Bacon promised that mechanical arts would conquer and subdue nature #corroborates (0.95) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 683
• Bacon’s program framed nature as a slave to be bound and constrained by science. #corroborates (0.95) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 670
• Bacon framed scientific method as the capture and enslavement of a female nature #exemplifies (0.92) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 676
• Bacon justified domination of nature as recovering man’s lost right from the Fall #corroborates (0.90) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 738
• Bacon classified nature as free, erring, or bound, justifying constraint of wayward matter #corroborates (0.90) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 677
• Bacon grounded his entire philosophical project in achieving practical mastery over nature #corroborates (0.90) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1994
• Bacon’s utopia authorized the manipulation of living organisms for experimental gain #corroborates (0.80) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 732