He declared the advancement of "the happiness of mankind" to be the direct purpose of the works he had written or designed.

He considered that all his predecessors had gone wrong because they did not apprehend that the finis scientarum, the real and legitimate goal of the sciences, is "the endowment of human life with new inventions and riches"; and he made this the test for defining the comparative values of the various branches of knowledge.
The true object, therefore, of the investigation of nature is not, as the Greek philosophers held, speculative satisfaction, but to establish the reign of man over nature; and this Bacon judged to be attainable, provided new methods of attacking the problems were introduced.

Whatever may be thought of his daring act in bringing natural science down from the clouds and assigning to her the function of ministering to the material convenience and comfort of man, we may criticise Bacon for his doctrine that every branch of science should be pursued with a single eye towards practical use.

Mathematics, he thought, should conduct herself as a humble, if necessary, handmaid, without any aspirations of her own.

But it is not thus that the great progress in man's command over nature since Bacon's age has been effected.