Begining of the Scientific Method

During the seventeenth century science is becoming popular. Major universities have begun to create new chairs of science and patronage has increased. One important idea to science was the development of a scientific method. Francis Bacon is a lawyer and Lord Chancellor. His The Great Instauration wanted scientists to recreate science on proper foundations because he did not approve of the works of Kepler, Copernicus, and Galileo. He then created his view of the scientific method which is based on inductive reasoning. He believes that scientists should begin from the particular then approach to the general. Furthermore he believes that carefully organized experiments as well as detailed observations will lead to a correct generalization.  He believed that science is when “human life be endowed with new discoveries and power’, thus showing human domination of nature. Descartes was a philosopher, mathematician, and physicist.  Descartes experienced a mystical feeling that led to the development of a new rational-mathematical system. His famous work was the Discourse on Method. In his work he shows principles that he believes can help human beings understand the world. He also brought in the idea of separation of mind and matter. This idea led to the Cartesian dualism where human reason coupled with mathematics is the prime essentials in understanding the world.  Rene Descartes contribution to the Scientific method is his belief that one can start with facts and create more complex solutions. He emphasized deduction and mathematics. Bacon’s empiricism and Descartes’ rationalism led to the creation of the scientific method. This method uses observations and experiments to arrive at general concepts in which new deductions can be tested.