Baconian

views updated May 29 2018

Baconian of or pertaining to Sir Francis Bacon.
Baconian philosophy the inductive method of reasoning associated with Francis Bacon, whose radical philosophical beliefs proved very influential in the century following his death.
Baconian theory the theory, first promulgated in the late nineteenth century, that Francis Bacon (as the head of a group including Raleigh and Spenser) was the true author of the plays attributed to Shakespeare, and that a great system of thought was concealed in them by ciphers. The American writer Delia Salter Bacon (1811–59) was one of the earliest and most enthusiastic proponents of the theory.

More From encyclopedia.com