Literary notes about baconian (AI summary)
The term "Baconian" has been deployed in literature with a flexible range of meanings—from technical methodology to playful or ironic literary labeling. In some instances, such as in Mark Twain's essays, it appears alongside other personified or cultural icons (like “Shakespearite”) to evoke a unique blend of intellectual curiosity and humor [1, 2]. Edgar Allan Poe, on the other hand, uses it as an elegant substitute for more cumbersome adjectives (as in “Hog-ian”), thereby endowing the term with both aesthetic appeal and substantive connotations [3, 4]. Meanwhile, its association with systematic inquiry is highlighted by William James, who references the “Baconian method” as a structured approach to assembling knowledge [5]. Finally, authors like Rebecca Harding Davis employ it critically, aligning Baconian theories with other complex ideological constructs in a broader commentary on belief systems [6].
- Wait half an hour, then open the cell, introduce a Shakespearite and a Baconian, and let them cipher and assume.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain - With the Baconian it is different.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain - “Baconian,” you must know, was an adjective invented as equivalent to Hog-ian and more euphonious and dignified.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - The savans now maintained the Aristotelian and Baconian roads were the sole possible avenues to knowledge.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - The Baconian method of collating tables of instances may be a useful aid at certain times.
— from The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James - What will this lowest deep—thieves, Magdalens, negroes—do with the light filtered through ponderous Church creeds, Baconian theories, Goethe schemes?
— from Life in the Iron-Mills; Or, The Korl Woman by Rebecca Harding Davis
