A New Form of Knowledge: Experientia Literata

In this paper, I assess Francis Bacon’s methodologicalconsiderations on the process of experimentation in order to show thatexperiments and experimentation have a productive role in his scientificinquiry. By looking at the structure of the problems selected forinvestigation, and at the ways they are addressed in the History of the Winds, Iemphasize some of the epistemic functions of the experimentation process:the generation of new unknown effects, direct and essential contribution toconceptual innovation, the extension of the domain of research, and thepinning down of the essential factors for producing the particulareffect/phenomenon that is under study.