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Bacon Project Essay
Bacon Project Essay
Bacon Project Essay
Mrs. Bedard
11 January 2018
Religion has been an important part of the lives of many throughout much of history,
however a thorn in the side of many faithful people is Atheism. Atheism is the rejection or non-
belief of a higher power, often leading to anger or bitterness directed at Atheists by religious
people. This has led to many debates from both sides, for example in the essay “Of Atheism”
Francis Bacon attempts to take a stance against atheism. He speaks on his stance of Atheism and
what conditions create Atheists. Through his use of rhetorical devices and powerful arguments,
Bacon uses allusion to attempt to connect to the audience while also furthering his
argument for religion. He does this multiple times by referencing texts and important figures
from various religions. He also alludes to multiple countries and atheists in his essay. One of his
most powerful examples of allusion is when he states “I had rather believe all the fables in the
Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without mind” (Bacon
1-2). That is powerful as he uses it to relate to the audiences that would worship those Religious
texts, while also taking a stance against Atheism as he states he would rather believe all those
different stories than that the Atheist way of thinking is the proper way. There are more
examples of allusion throughout the essay, which all serve one or both of the same purposes as
the quote above. Overall allusion is certainly one of if not Bacon’s most powerful device, as he is
able to use it with multiple effects, while still having it be as powerful as the other devices he
The main problem with trying to argue that there exists a higher power or that there is no
such thing is that there is no concrete proof to support either side, however Bacon overcomes this
through the use of the rhetorical device logos. Throughout the essay he uses several distinct
forms of logos, but none resonate louder than the syllogism where he states: “They that deny a
God destroy man’s nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and, if he be
not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature.” Bacon’s use of a syllogism as a
form of logos here leaves little room for an opposing party to refute his claim since it is all
deduced logically with only small logical leaps, which is reasonable given the ambiguity of the
topic. Logos essentially functioned as the backbone of his essay, giving logical rational to each
Finally, parallelism is used heavily throughout the piece in two distinct ways: to organize
his ideas and give his writing flow, and to juxtapose opposing ideas. The latter form is utilized
brilliantly when Bacon compares the common logic of an atheist to that of someone who is not
by saying: “ It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in
philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.” The parallel structure between the clauses
gives the sentence a philosophical flow which inclines the reader to think more critically about
what Bacon is actually saying with more credibility. Furthermore, the structure of the sentence
provides the perfect medium to compare the logic of both parties as it is evident to the reader
exactly what is different about the two just by which words are different in each clause, which
then allows Bacon to easily expand on those differences in the following sentence. The use of
Artusi, Baginski 3
parallelism allows Bacon to convey the same ideas, however in a more clean, credible, and
efficient fashion.
Bacon’s use of rhetorical devices created a brilliant essay which was organized and clean
from the parallel structure, related to the audience through allusion, and finally was backed up
with solid reasoning from the logos. In the end the overall purpose of Bacon’s essay was to
inform the audience about the numerous ways that atheism is irrational in the hopes that they
would begin to think more critically about the topic and reach the conclusion themselves that
there must be some power much higher than each one of us.