Benjamin Farrington (1891-1974) was an Irish scholar and professor of the Classics. Born in Cork, he was educated in Ireland and taught at the university level in Ireland and South Africa. He wrote several books on the development of scientific thought in Western culture, with a particular emphasis on the contributions of the Greek philosophers and Francis Bacon. 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Classics, particularly within the Western University tradition, when used as a singular noun, means the study of the language, literature, history, art, and other aspects of Greek and Roman culture during the time frame known as classical antiquity. ... For other uses of Cork, see Cork (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Western World. ... Classical (or early) Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. ... Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, KC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman and essayist but is best known for leading the scientific revolution with his new observation and experimentation theory which is the way science has been conducted ever since. ...

Academic career

Farrington obtained his university education at University College, Cork (now National University of Ireland, Cork) and Trinity College Dublin. He was a lecturer in the classics in Belfast, taught for fifteen years at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and was a Professor of Classics for over twenty years at Swansea, South Wales. University College Cork - National University of Ireland, Cork - or more commonly University College Cork (UCC) - is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland located in Cork City. ... The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin or more commonly Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin, Irelands oldest university. ... Classics, particularly within the Western University tradition, when used as a singular noun, means the study of the language, literature, history, art, and other aspects of Greek and Roman culture during the time frame known as classical antiquity. ... This article is about the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland. ... The University of Cape Town, abbreviated as UCT, is a public university located on the Rhodes Estate on the slopes of Devils Peak, in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. ... Swansea (Welsh: , mouth of the Tawe) is a city in Wales and a Welsh County. ... Approximate extent of South Wales South Wales (Welsh: ) is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. ...

In the 1940s he became involved with socialist politics and a series of lectures he gave in Dublin schools was used as the basis of his pamphlet The Challenge of Socialism. The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949. ... Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to social control. ... WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 53. ...

He retired from teaching in 1961.

Critical Reception

"We are tantalized because his case is so nearly good, and might have been very good. If only he would avoid ridiculous overstatements bound to alienate,... Lastly, the book annoys, because ... it abounds in misleading statements or half-truths." — W. K. C. Guthrie, review of Science and Politics in the Ancient World, The Classical Review, 54(1940): 34-5.

"There is enough truth in Professor Farrington's main contention to cause one to wish that his book had been more fairly conceived. Let it be granted that politics and vested religious interests have often opposed the scientific spirit;... Yet it remains true that Greek humanism is as notable an achievement as Greek science.... Science is the chief foe of superstion, but to suppose that science alone will ever achieve man's good is itself a grandiose superstition." — William C. Greene, review of Science and Politics in the Ancient World, Classical Philology, 36(1941): 201-2.

"Professor Farrington, in this book, conclusively shows that the Popular Superstition which in the Ancient World formed so effective an obstacle to the progress of science was a supersition which was, for the most part, deliberately thought out by the 'patricians' and deliberately foisted by them upon the 'plebians.'" — M. F. Ashley Montagu, review of Science and Politics in the Ancient World, Isis, 33(1941): 270-3.

"Farrington's Greek Science thus seems at once very stimulating and very biased, excellent in many respects but to be read with a critical mind. Until a better book on the subject comes along—and that may not be soon—it will fill a consicerable need for a readable work dealing with the science of the ancient Greeks." — Bentley Glass, review of Greek Science: Its Meaning for Us, Quarterly Review of Biology, 30 (1955): 281.

Books

• Science in Antiquity (1936, reprinted in 1969).
• Science and Politics in the Ancient World (1939, 1946).
• Greek Science: Its Meaning for Us; Part I (1944, reprinted with Part II in 1963, paperback 2000 ISBN 0-85124-631-1).
• Head and Hand in Ancient Greece: Four Studies in the Social Relations of Thought (1947, paperback 2001 ISBN 0-85124-654-0).
• Greek Science: Its Meaning for Us; Part II (1949, reprinted with Part I in 1963, paperback 1981 ISBN 0-85124-288-X, 2000 ISBN 0-85124-631-1).
• Francis Bacon, Philosopher of Industrial Science (1951 ISBN 0-374-92706-5, 1973 ISBN 0-8383-1685-9).
• Francis Bacon, Pioneer of Planned Science (1963, 1969 ASIN B0006CF4JO)
• The Philosophy of Francis Bacon (1964, paperback 1967 ISBN 0-226-23885-7).
• Lucretius, editor (1965).
• What Darwin Really Said (1966, paperback 1996 ISBN 0-8052-1062-8).
• The Faith of Epicurus (1967).
• The Philosophy of Francis Bacon: An essay on its development from 1603 to 1609, with new translations of fundamental texts (1970).
• Samuel Butler and the Odyssey (1974 ISBN 0-8383-1777-4).

References

• Communist Party of Ireland, "Some Famous Irish Communists: Benjamin Farrington (1891-1974)", Communist Party of Ireland, (accessed June 18, 2006).
• Needham, Joseph, "Preface" in Farrington, Benjamin, Greek Science: Its Meaning for Us. Nottingham, Spokesman (Russell House), 2000.