Western Civilization I / Unit 17 WC1 1621 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Bacon's Method and the Alchemist's Motive
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The idea
Francis Bacon, fifteen sixty-one to sixteen twenty-six, codified the scientific method: hypothesis, then the attempt to disprove it, and repeatable results. He broke with ancient authority entirely. Yet Newton was an alchemist and astronomers were astrologers; the urge to probe secrets still produced discovery.
In practice
A prophet, not a scientist, the anchor says.
Where people slip
Magic and science overlapped.
Your place on the trail
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