INTRODUCTION

This 13th volume of the Previously Unedited Works will complete the edition, started with Volume 7, of Bacon's scholastic writings. These works have come down to us through the valuable Manuscript 406 from the Library of Amiens. This manuscript fully justifies the sentence he included in 1267 in his dedication letter to Pope Clement IV: "I had written many things in another state for the training of youths." 1 original Latin: "Multa in alio statu conscripseram propter juvenum rudimenta." Indeed, it is known that at this date he divides his career as a scholar into two distinct periods. One of these periods corresponds to the ten years from 1257 to 1267. During this time, he wrote occasional short works for his friends. These lacked connection to one another and, in his view, had little significance. 2 The other period is earlier. It represents his stage of life as a professor. As a Master of Arts, this stage gave him the opportunity to write on many academic subjects. However, he did not consider these works to be formal treatises on philosophy. "In another state," he added in the Opus Tertium (page 13), "I did not create any writing on philosophy." 3 original Latin: "In alio statu... non feci scriptum aliquod philosophiae."

Such writings reveal their own meaning once we know they are early works intended for the intellectual training of students. But it was important to learn that they are numerous and that they deal with classroom texts.

Without wanting to judge here the question of whether this dedication letter, which Cardinal Gasquet published in the English Historical Review...

1 English Historical Review, xii, p. 500.
2 "For ten years... I have composed nothing except that I compiled some chapters now on one science, now on another, at the request of friends, sometimes in a transitory manner." original Latin: "A decem annis... nihil composui nisi quod aliqua capitula nunc de una scientia, nunc de alia, ad instantiam amicorum aliquando more transitorio compilavi." Ibid. He returns to this claim in the Opus Tertium (page 13): "For although I sometimes compiled some chapters on various matters at the request of friends in a transitory manner, this is not a significant writing." original Latin: "Licet enim aliqua capitula de diversis materiis ad instantiam amicorum aliquotiens more transitorio compilavi, hoc non est scriptum aliquod notandum."
3 This confidence must be accepted with a grain of salt original: "cum grano salis" by taking into account the circumstances in which it was made and the thoughts occupying Bacon’s mind at the time. Discussing questions about the text of Aristotle is one thing; creating an entirely original scientific work on a given subject is another.