The Scientific Revolution

The beginnings of the Scientific Revolution date back to 1543, when Copernicus first suggested that the sun was the center of the universe. While this was said to be a radical idea, the ideas and philosophies that belonged to Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes were far more radical. Both men are considered to be revolutionaries of the period. Bacon 's work Novum Organum, Latin for "new instrument" was first published in 1620, the title was referring to the human mind. The laws of nature can only be discovered by "questioning nature herself and not by arguing..." Bacon said. He proposed a new method of "induction" to arrive at answers. Previously, scientists had started with a broad question or subject and skipped around until they came to a specific answer. This often led to overlooking or leaving out important facts and ideas. Bacon said that induction was the proper way to go about "driving out Idols of the Mind," which was the discussion of prejudices. Bacon felt this was slowing down the progression of the sciences. Bacon believed that another reason that the sciences were not progressing was because there was no fixed end. He said that the "true and genuine End of the Sciences" is to enrich human life with "new inventions and new powers." Another reason that Bacon blamed on the slow progression was that people used the information for their own benefit. In addition to this, Bacon criticized the education system. He said that there were too many particulars with the old method and that the minds were not prepared for this. Bacon 's proposition of the new method was a counter of medieval sciences, otherwise knows as the old method. The old method consisted of finding truth based in logic. This method which had been instituted by the church started with a premise and built upon the original assumption. Bacon 's new method was called induction. Induction is the process of starting with specifics and gradually moving to the more general subject. In the old method, one could make huge leaps between ideas, but with the New Method, Bacon says "…when, by continued Steps, like real Stairs, uninterrupted or broken, Men shall ascend from particulars to lesser Axioms," An axiom being a truth on which other knowledge is built. Bacon 's new method was born of the Enlightenment which produced skepticism and doubt and Enlightened thinkers, was that the new method questioned accepted authority. The conclusions produced were independent of the church, and therefore challenged the authority of the church. Rene Descartes was a French philosopher, educated by Jesuits. He is also the man that keyed the phrase, "I think, therefore I am." Descartes based his knowledge on concrete evidence and was the same way with his philosophy, which he based only on true knowledge. Descartes felt that the scientists of the past only cared about ideas that were really abstract and did not seem to be of use. Like Bacon, Descartes appears to criticize the education system of the middle ages, he says in his work A Discourse on Method, "…there results an art full of confusion and obscurity calculated to embarrass, instead of a science fitted to cultivate the mind." However, while Bacon promoted the idea of induction, working from particulars to generalizations, Descartes defended the process of deduction, which was working from generalizations to particulars. Descartes goes on to say that the fewer the rules the better (he uses it in terms of the government; however, it is clear he is alluding to the sciences). He offers four rules in Discourse which he believes would simplify and that would be enough for him. His first law was to never accept anything as true if the individual did not know it to be true. Descartes believed that this would not compromise his judgment and would "exclude all ground of doubt." His second law was to break up the question into multiple pieces. This would make the problem easier to solve, by answering several smaller questions, rather than one large question. In effect, you could also arrive at a better and more thorough answer. His next step was similar to what Bacon had said previously in his work. Descartes ' third step was to order his ideas in a specific sequence, starting with the simplest and gradually moving to the more complex, step by step. His final rule was to make general reviews so that no information would be left out, in the sense that the facts would be broad enough to include an array of information. Descartes also believed that there was no information that was unattainable; he felt that if people continued to not accept the false as true. This was an important idea because sometimes false answers will prove the hypothesis right, and previously, scientists had been accepting false answers as true because they proved the hypothesis correct. Rene goes on to say that experiments become more and more necessary as and individual builds his foundation of knowledge. In Discourse, Descartes is building a foundation; he believed that all knowledge is connected if it is not "littered" with false ideas. However, because Descartes encouraged all future generations to not simply accept what they are told, he felt that even his method should be questioned. After all this, he warned his protégés to be careful, as the church could become upset. Frances Bacon and Rene Descartes were two philosophers who turned the sciences upside down with their radical takes on how things should be done. Gone were the ancient ideas of the middle ages, as these two men, who were at the forefront of the Scientific Revolution. Though both men had differing ideas on the correct procedure to find answers, both objected and threw out the middle ages method, which made assumptions based on logic. Bacon and Descartes both knew that to arrive at a concrete answer, one much advance his or her knowledge in a logical, step by step manner.

Bibliography:

Frances Bacon, "A Discourse On Method"

Rene Descartes, "Novum Organum"

Bibliography: Frances Bacon, "A Discourse On Method" Rene Descartes, "Novum Organum"