Scientific Method: From Bacon to Popper, The
Philosopher Ian Hacking talks about the impact of Sir Francis Bacon and Karl Popper on scientific inquiry. Ultimately, Professor Hacking concludes, science is neither all theory nor all experiment but, rather, an intimate interaction between what we...
How Does Science Add to Knowledge?: Sir Francis Bacon, Spokesperson for the Scientific Revolution
Sir Francis Bacon, prominent philosopher of the Renaissance, rises to the rank of Lord Chancellor of England before he is convicted of accepting bribes. After a short time in jail, he retires to write and to conduct scientific experiments. Bacon cri...
How Does Science Add to Knowledge?: How Science Really Worked in the 17th-19th Centuries
Bacon's method of induction seems to work better for the experimental science of Robert Boyle than it does for the theoretical science of Isaac Newton, although Newton does describe his theory as "inferred from the phenomena." An alternative basis f...
How Does Science Add to Knowledge?: Bacon's Method of Scientific Induction
Bacon urges scientists to use a method which he calls "induction." Make a number of observations, look for general patterns, then test those patterns before proposing the underlying law of nature at work. Particularly critical to the process is cond...
Making the Pieces Fit: Coastlines and Jigsaw Puzzles
The scientific work that would eventually lead to the Theory of Plate Tectonics began with observations that the coastlines of Africa and South America are strikingly similar.
Sir Francis Bacon And The Case For Curiosity
Philosopher Ian Hacking talks about the contributions of Sir Francis Bacon to scientific inquiry. Professor Hacking notes that while Bacon's approach later came to be viewed as a model for how science should be done, during his lifetime, he didn't a...
Empiricism and Rationalism
Philosopher Ian Hacking talks about the challenge of making a clear distinction between classic rationalists and empiricists. He notes that "there's an awful lot of theorizing to be found in those empiricists, and a lot of concern with experimentati...