Deceiving the Senses: The Role of Vapours in Francis Bacon’s Natural Philosophy

Bacon’s universe is one in which matter is constantly striving to satisfy its appetites. Bodies have an antipathy to those other bodies that prevent them from satisfying their appetites, and flee from them. On the contrary, bodies are in a relation of sympathy and drawn toward those bodies that facilitate the satisfaction of their appetites. However, this relation is not always reciprocal, and this tension is the source of motion and visible phenomena in the sublunary world. As Bacon states in the first line of the preface to The History of Sympathy and Antipathy of Things, “Strife and friendship in nature are the spurs of motion and keys of works.” In a nonreciprocal relationship, bodies can satisfy their appetites only if they betray other spirits and make them believe they are “friends,” as we have seen in the example of infections. According to Bacon, in order to distinguish between “friends” and “enemies,” bodies possess a certain degree of knowledge; this deceptive knowledge is the basis on which we might call matter ingenious.