Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine
and Human
by Francis Bacon
 |
| First published 1605 |
This 1605 book inspired the taxonomic structure of the
highly influential Encyclopédie by Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Denis Diderot,
and is credited by Bacon's biographer-essayist Catherine Drinker Bowen with
being a pioneering essay in support of empirical philosophy. Concerned with
understanding the human mind, Francis Bacon introducing the empirical
(scientific) method during the Scientific Revolution, and was arguably the
first person to consider body language from this empirical perspective. Bacon
described gestures as "Transient Hieroglyphics" and suggested that
gestures provide an indication of the state of mind and will of the speaker,
exploring them as a reflection or extension of spoken communication: ‘As the
tongue speaketh to the ear, so the gesture speaketh to the eye.’ He saw
nonverbal language as the most natural form of communication, a form not dependent
upon the country you came from. He also believed that looking and listening was
equally as important in understanding conversation.