Francis Bacon's Novum Organum and the scientific method
- Date
- 1620
- Category
- Culture, arts & philosophy
- Region
- England
- Era
- Early Modern
- Significance
In 1620 the English statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon published Novum Organum (The New Organon), a programmatic call to reform the methods of natural knowledge.
Its title deliberately set it against Aristotle's Organon: where Aristotelian logic reasoned deductively from universal premises through the syllogism, Bacon argued that genuine knowledge of nature must be built upward from careful, systematic observation and experiment toward general axioms by a disciplined process of induction. He warned against the 'Idols of the Mind', the habitual errors and biases that distort human reasoning, and urged that science be a collaborative, empirical and useful enterprise aimed at extending human power over nature. Although Bacon made few discoveries himself and his inductive scheme was never followed mechanically, his insistence on experiment, organised data-gathering and cooperative inquiry deeply shaped the ethos of the Scientific Revolution. His vision of institutionalised research directly inspired the founders of the Royal Society, and he is widely regarded as a principal architect of the modern experimental method.
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Empires active in 1620
- Solomonic dynasty1270 CE – 1974 CE
- Ottoman Empire1299 CE – 1922 CE
- Mughal Empire1526 CE – 1857 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
- Ming Dynasty1368 CE – 1644 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
Related culture, arts & philosophy events
- Locke's Two Treatises and Essay: social contract and empiricism1689 (published; dated 1690)
- The Enlightenment (Age of Reason)c. 1685–1815
- Construction of the Taj Mahal1632–1653
- Descartes's Discourse on the Method and modern philosophy1637
- Shah Abbas I and the golden age of Safavid Isfahan1598 (capital moved to Isfahan)
- Erasmus publishes his Greek New Testament and the rise of Christian humanism1516
Further reading
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