In 1622, Francis Bacon published his Historia naturalis et experimentalis. Many of the features of Bacon's natural and experimental histories were entirely new. This paper studies this literary form as a new epistemic genre. In particular, it analyzes its origin and evolution in Bacon's work, focusing on how its basic template and features were influenced by his specific epistemic requirements. It shows that Bacon devised these features in the process of developing a Historia mechanica, or a history of the mechanical arts, drawing on the particular case of the technical recipe. Since antiquity, the recipe had been the dominant epistemic genre for recording and communicating technical knowledge. However, this paper suggests that the recipe format did not meet Francis Bacon's epistemic needs. In particular, the format was incompatible with the goal of keeping experimentation and its reporting open‐ended and flexible. More generally, the acknowledgment of the provisional, historical character of knowledge was a tenet of what Bacon called an “initiative” method of knowledge transmission, or a method of “probation.” According to this approach, knowledge “ought to be delivered and intimated, if it were possible, in the same method wherein it was invented” and discovered. Only the display of its tentative features would encourage and stimulate others to improve and advance it. The format of the new genre of natural and experimental histories grew out of Bacon's dissatisfaction with the way in which recipes hid the imperfection of the process of knowledge production.

中文翻译：

---

食谱之外：培根的自然和实验史是一种认识论类型

1622年，弗朗西斯·培根（Francis Bacon）发表了《自然史与实验史》。培根的自然历史和实验历史的许多特征都是全新的。本文将这种文学形式作为一种新的认识论类型进行研究。特别是，它分析了培根的作品的起源和演变，重点是培根的基本模板和特征如何受到他具体认识要求的影响。它表明培根在开发Historia Mechanica的过程中设计了这些功能，或根据机械配方的特殊情况，了解机械艺术史。自上古以来，食谱一直是记录和交流技术知识的主要认知形式。但是，本文认为该配方形式不能满足弗朗西斯·培根的认知需求。尤其是，该格式与保持实验及其报告开放式和灵活的目标不兼容。更笼统地说，对知识的临时，历史特征的承认是培根所谓的“主动”知识传播方法或“试用”方法的宗旨。根据这种方法，知识“如果可能的话，应该以与发明知识相同的方法来传递和激发”。只有展示其试验性特征才能鼓励和刺激其他人改进和推进它。新形式的自然历史和实验历史的格式源于培根对食谱隐藏知识生产过程的不完善之处的方式的不满。