Of Studies SAQ
Of Studies – An Essay on the Importance of Conventional Education
Francis Bacon [1561-1626]
SAQ – 2 Marks
1. What are the three uses of study that Bacon specifies in his essay, “Of Studies”?
👉Bacon specifies three different uses of study. Firstly, studies are a source of delight in our leisure time and solitude. Secondly, it has an ornamental value. It provides the power of eloquence with a perfect ease. Finally, it increases one’s ability to execute various jobs properly.
Related Question
What are the advantages of studies?
👉Bacon specifies three different uses of study. Firstly, studies are a source of delight in our leisure time and solitude. Secondly, it has an ornamental value. Thirdly, studies help one to develop one’s ability to judge and help to handle one’s affairs with perfect ease and success.
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2. “To spend too much time in studies is sloth…..” — Explain.
👉Bacon warns us that to spend too much time in studies is a mark of idleness, to use them inordinately for ornament is vanity or to judge only by their rules is the eccentricity of a scholar.
Related Question
What are the abuses or disadvantages of studies?
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3. How has Bacon compared natural abilities to natural plants?
👉In the essay, “Of Studies” Bacon has compared natural abilities of a man with the natural plants. Natural plants need pruning and maintenance. Similarly, natural abilities in man have to be properly channelized to bring in perfection.
Related Question
“—-are like natural plants, that need pruning, by study.” — Bring out the comparison lied in this line.
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4. How are studies treated by different types of men?
👉The three categories of men including simple, crafty and wise treat studies in three different ways. Crafty men condemn studies, simple men admire it and wise men use it for their benefit.
Related Question
What are the acceptances of studies in various ways by the people?
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5. Who among the ‘crafty men’,’simple men’ and ‘wise men’ can use studies properly?
👉Bacon says that crafty men consider study useless and simple men wonder for it as they are ignorant. Study has no purpose to both of them. Only the wise men who are intelligent and mature can make best use of studies.
6. Why should one read?
👉One should read in order to develop the power of understanding, comprehension and consideration and not to contradict and confute others, nor to blindly believe others without thinking for himself.
Related Question
In this essay Bacon pointed out some purposes of studies. What are they?
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7. “They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience.” — Explain.
👉Bacon says that human nature is perfected by studies. Originally human nature has its limitations. Learning gives human nature a satisfactory turn, but it is not enough. Only experience can give the final mould and adjustment in one’s temperament, attitude and mode of activity.
8. How do reading, conference and writing develop a man?
👉Reading makes a full man, conference makes him ready to face all types of people and to deal with all types of affairs and writing perfects him, and thus creating an exact man.
Related Questions
[I] What are the purposes of studies to cultivate different skills?
[II] What are the objectives or different modes of studies?
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9. How did the different subjects help man?
👉Histories generate wisdom in a man, poems make him witty, mathematics make him subtle, physics make him delve deep into matters, moral ethics make a man serious and logic develops the power of rhetoric in man.
Related Question
How do books of different subjects help in the development of one’s personality?
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10. How many types of books are there as mentioned by Bacon in “Of Studies”? How should books be utilized?
👉Bacon mentioned three types of books in his essay, “Of Studies”.
He says that some books are to be tasted, some to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested, that is, some books are to be read only in parts, some to be read but not minutely, while others should be read with care, diligence and perfect attention.
11. “……..distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things.” — What are ‘distilled books’? Why are they are compared to ‘distilled waters’? Explain.
👉By ‘distilled books’, Bacon means the summaries and epitomises of books. He thinks that books lose their characteristic charms when they are summarised. According to him, water when distilled becomes tasteless or flashy, and like the distilled water, the distilled books also become dull and insipid or tasteless.
Related Question
“……..distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things.” — Explain the message of the essayist in the line mentioned above.
👉The essayist has compared distilled books to common distilled waters. They are flashy things. According to Bacon, when water is distilled, it loses its taste and becomes flashy. Likewise, when a book is summarized, it loses its characteristic charms.
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12. What does Bacon say about the curative value of study?
👉Just as the proper exercise can cure many defects and deformations of the human body, likewise, studies can cure many mental defects of human beings. For a wondering mind that cannot concentrate on anything, study of mathematics would be a very good exercise. Again, if a man cannot recall references to classify his arguments, the law cases will be the perfect remedy for him.
Related Question
What remedies does Bacon suggest for mental defects of human beings in his essay, “Of Studies”?
👉Bacon suggests that the man lacking in concentration should study mathematics. According to him, the person who lacks the ability to discern and distinguish should study the books of Medieval Schoolmen. One who cannot pass through the matters rapidly in the mind and call up one thing to prove and illustrate another must study the lawyers’ cases.
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13. What are the advices to the readers given by Bacon?
👉Bacon advises to his readers that a man needs to possess great memory if he writes less, needs to have a pleasant wit if he discusses little, and should be seeming-wise if he knows little.
Related Question
What are the warnings given by Bacon to the readers?
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14. What idea do you form of Bacon’s general outlook on life from your reading of “Of Studies”?
👉Bacon was a pragmatic person. He did not share the scholar’s love of knowledge for the sake of knowledge. He valued men and affairs by the materialistic outlook. His general outlook on life is that one should use his knowledge to enrich his mind. He judges the worth of everything on the basis of its practical utility.
Related Question
Write in brief about Bacon’s outlook on life as you find in his essay, “Of Studies”.
👉In his essay, “Of Studies” Bacon’s general outlook on life is that one should use his knowledge to enrich his mind. He judges the worth of everything on the basis of its practical utility.
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15. Explain the phrase ‘to beat over matters’.
👉The phrase ‘to beat over matters’ means to make a rapid survey. In Novum Organum it is mentioned as the mind of man is altogether slow, and so unfitted to pass to remote and different examples by which conclusions are tried, as it were by fire.
Related Question
What does the phrase ‘to beat over matters’ mean in Bacon’s essay, “Of Studies”?
👉In Bacon’s essay, “Of Studies” the phrase ‘to beat over matters’ indicates making rapid survey. Novum Organum mentions it as the mind of man ‘is very slow and unfit for the transition to the remote and heterogeneous instances, by which axioms are tried as by fire’.
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16. Mention the salient features of Bacon’s style in his essays?
👉Bacon’s presentation of the subjects in his essays is marked by his aphoristic, rhetorical style, anti-thetical statements, constant use of imagery and figurative language, his extensive use of allusions and quotations, his flexibility and his wit. Above all, Bacon’s style is characterized by terseness and brevity.
17. “Abeunt studia in mores.” — Explain.
👉The expression has been taken from Bacon’s essay “Of Studies”. It is a Latin expression means ‘Studies pass into characters.” He means to say that studies play greater role in building our character.
Related Questions
[I] What does Bacon want to mean using the phrase ”Abeunt studia in mores”?
👉By using the Latin phrase in his famous essay, “Of Studies” Bacon gives a message about the great role of studies in our life. The expression means ‘Studies pass into and influence manners’ which expresses that studies play greater role in building one’s character.
[II] Where from has Bacon quoted the expression ‘Abeunt studia in mores’? What does the expression mean?
👉Bacon has quoted this expression from one of the epistle of the Roman poet Ovid. The Latin expression means ‘studies become manifest in character’. He means to say that studies play greater role in building human character.
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18. Who are ‘cymini sectores’ in “Of Studies”?
👉’Cymini sectores’ is a Latin term meaning experts in hair splitting i.e. splitters of hairs. They are the philosophers of the Middle Ages who have the capacity to differentiate and distinguish things. Bacon says that if a man cannot differentiate things easily, he can go through the works of philosophers of the Middle Ages who were the hair splitters of things.
19. Who are the expert-men, according to Bacon? How do they differ from the learned men?
👉Men who are helped by their experience and by learning are called expert-men, according to Bacon.They can analyze and indicate various elements of steps. They can advise about a work or a planning. So, they differ from learned men.
20. “So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.” — Comment.
👉In the concluding expression the essayist, Bacon categorically points out that proper and disciplined education can have influence upon the intellect. It can influence the reader’s mind also, that means studies can help to increase concentration and perseverance.
21. How do reading, conference and writing develop a man?
👉There are three modes of studies–reading, conference and writing. Reading makes a full man by giving him knowledge and information, conference makes a man ready to face all types of people and to deal with all types of affairs, and writing provides a man accuracy so that he can make free use of his knowledge.
Related Question
Explain the different modes of Studies.
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22. In “Of Studies” Bacon has pointed out some purposes of studies. What are they?
👉The real purpose of reading, according to Bacon, is to develop the power of understanding, comprehension and consideration. It also teaches on not to confute and contradict others, nor to blindly believe others without thinking for himself.
23. Mention some disadvantages of studies as revealed in Bacon’s “Of Studies”?
👉Study perfects human nature. But, according to Bacon, one becomes inactive and of sedentary habit if one spends much time in studies. Too much use of studies makes one’s language artificial and over refined.
