Western Civilization II / Unit 5 WC2 0404 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Bacon's Method: Hypothesis, Disproof, Repetition
Captions available
The idea
Francis Bacon, who died in sixteen twenty-six, codified the method: form a hypothesis, then try to disprove it, and trust only results that repeat. He broke with ancient authority entirely, calling it all but worthless. The witness: the Novum Organum of sixteen twenty.
In practice
A prophet, not a practitioner.
Where people slip
Bacon is induction; Descartes, at 0421, is deduction.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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