Journal article
2008

Uprooting Nebuchadnezzar’s Tree: Francis Bacon’s Criticism of Machiavellian Imperialism

Michelle T. Clarke

Political Research Quarterly 61, no. 3 (2008): 367–378.

Shows that Francis Bacon, for all his open admiration of Machiavelli, rejects Machiavelli’s model of empire. Guided by philanthropia, the relief of man’s estate, Bacon reverses three Machiavellian images (Solomon for David, the mustard seed for Nebuchadnezzar’s tree, Themistocles for Fabius Maximus) to reject violent conquest, rigid hierarchy, and conservative values in favor of an empire of humanity, prosperity, and cosmopolitanism. Philanthropia, the article argues, is what unifies Bacon’s politics and science, and it anticipates later commercial and liberal justifications of empire.

  • Francis Bacon
  • Machiavelli
  • Empire
  • Philanthropia
  • Glory

How to cite

Clarke, Michelle T. “Uprooting Nebuchadnezzar’s Tree: Francis Bacon’s Criticism of Machiavellian Imperialism.” Political Research Quarterly 61, no. 3 (2008): 367–378. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912908318845.

@article{clarke2008bacon,
  author    = {Clarke, Michelle T.},
  title     = {{Uprooting Nebuchadnezzar's Tree: Francis Bacon's Criticism of Machiavellian Imperialism}},
  year      = {2008},
  journal   = {Political Research Quarterly},
  volume    = {61},
  number    = {3},
  pages     = {367--378},
  doi       = {10.1177/1065912908318845},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912908318845}
}