Instauratio

Instauratio, in its most common scholarly use, refers to Francis Bacon’s overarching program for renewing and reforming knowledge, known in full as Instauratio Magna (The Great Instauration). The term itself comes from Latin and conveys the idea of renewal or reconstruction. Bacon (1561–1626) framed it as a comprehensive, long-term project to rebuild the sciences on a new method of inquiry that would replace the prevailing scholastic and Aristotelian approaches with systematic observation, experimentation, and induction.

The project was conceived as a six-part or multi-part plan, encompassing the development of a new method of inquiry, the organization of knowledge, and practical applications for human life. Its best-known components include the Novum Organum (New Instrument), published in 1620, which outlined an inductive method intended to replace syllogistic deduction with careful observation and experiment. Another major element associated with the Instauratio Magna is De Augmentis Scientiarum (The Advancement of Learning), an expanded reworking of Bacon’s earlier ideas on science, published in 1623. Bacon also imagined an empirical, orderly science as a foundation for a reformulated society, an idea later echoed in his utopian fiction New Atlantis (published posthumously in 1627).

Although Bacon did not complete the entire Instauratio Magna, the project strongly influenced the development of the scientific method and empirical research practices in early modern Europe. It shaped later institutions and attitudes toward inquiry, contributing to the broader shift of the Scientific Revolution toward observation, experiment, and practical knowledge.