The first thing that needs to be said about Bacon's ideas on morality and moral knowledge is that they do not constitute a systematic moral philosophy. Primarily, this is because the project of initiating a great lnstauration of learning represented for Bacon not a new philosophy but a new task: “a work to be done,” as he put it, “not an opinion to be held” (IV, 21). Such an opposition of works to words, of action to contemplation, entails a dismissal of all that is merely philosophy on the grounds that the relief of man's estate depends less on philosophical belief than on rigorous investigation. Only in the sweat of our brow could we reap the fruits of science.