What vision of society does Francis Bacon's New Atlantis present?

Published posthumously in 1626, Francis Bacon's incomplete utopian novel New Atlantis portrays a mythical land called Bensalem where generosity, enlightenment, and public spirit thrive. The text outlines an ideal college named Salomon's House, which prefigured the structure of modern research universities across pure and applied sciences. Along with Thomas More's Utopia, Bacon's work drew allegorical inspiration from Plato's ancient account of Atlantis.

What we know

• New Atlantis is an incomplete utopian novel by Sir Francis Bacon that was published posthumously in 1626. [1, 2]
• The novel depicts a mythical land named Bensalem whose inhabitants value generosity, enlightenment, piety, and public spirit. [2]
• Bacon's ideal college described in the novel, Salomon's House, prefigured the modern research university in both pure and applied sciences. [2]
• Both Francis Bacon's New Atlantis and Thomas More's Utopia took up the allegorical aspect of Plato's Atlantis story. [3]

Where to go next

• compared withHow does Thomas More's Utopia describe society?
• how it workedWhat was the role of Salomon's House in Bacon's vision?
• the bigger pictureHow did Plato's original account of Atlantis influence later writers?
• a case in pointWhat natural history work was New Atlantis published with?
• whoWhat were the major life events of Sir Thomas More?
• an unexpected connectionHow is a foundational text of modern science linked to a forest of materials?Francis Bacon originally published his visionary blueprint for modern science unheralded and tucked into the back of a longer natural history work.

Sources

• [1]New Atlantis (Wikidata Q1233830) · CC0 1.0
• [2]New Atlantis · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Atlantis · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Utopia (book) · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Thomas More · CC BY-SA 4.0