Philosophy of the Sciences

Early-Modern Scientific Method(s)

Modern Scientific Method What is it today? What do we call it? What is its purpose? Which fields of study employ it? Who are some important modern

theoreticians of scientific method?

Ancient scientific method Plato: visible vs intelligible realms; the

sensible world is but a mere reflection of the real world of the Forms,

Mathematics provided Plato with his primary examples: geometry or the supposedly indivisible number one;

Plato’s idea of a real world known only to the intellect, standing behind our sensible world, has deeply influenced natural science (e.g particle & wave theories of light).

Ancient scientific method Aristotle (a student of Plato) developed the

beginnings of method in his Posterior Analytics;

He retained the idea of Forms in his notion of essence, but his method focused on the sensible objects themselves;

For instance, an investigator might examine a variety of mammals, concluding that the essence of being a mammal is being gestated inside the mother and nursed on milk.

Ancient scientific method-Few experiments, although Aristotle’s student

Theophrastus did plant seeds sent to Athens by Alexander the Great;

-Little practical interest, except in the later Hellenistic and Roman periods (especially in medicine);

-Most activity we would now deem ‘scientific’ was observational in character, e.g. Aristotle’s treatises on animals;

-Astronomy, highly developed already by the Babylonians, originated in religion.

Medieval Scientific Method Followed Aristotle, ‘The Philosopher’,

treating his writings as the guide to method;

Most treatments highly theoretical, focused on discussions of ‘resolution’ and ‘composition’ (aka ‘analysis’ and ‘synthesis’);

Roger Bacon (14th cent.) suggested the outline of modern method: checking new consequences deduced from first principles.

Early-Modern Scientific Fields

Natural History: Botany, Zoology Medicine Anatomy Astronomy Mathematics Mechanics/Physics Mineralogy

Theoreticians of Method Galileo Bacon Descartes Boyle Newton Locke

Sir Francis Bacon Attacked Aristotle for premature theorizing

from too few cases; Claimed A., even when he performed

experiments, allowed preconceived notions (‘idols’) and logic too great a role in his conclusions;

Proclaimed ‘induction’ to be the key to overcoming Aristotelian deficiencies in scientific method: ‘First we must compile a good, adequate natural and experimental history. That is the foundation of the matter’ (NO II, x).

Bacon, cont. Induction—definition? Is it the only game in town? (Deduction?

Retroduction?) No: what else does Bacon suggest we

must do? ‘I have established forever a true and

lawful marriage between the empirical and the rational faculty…’(GI, 15). Meaning?

Bacon, cont.—Inductivist? ‘Directions for the interpretation of

nature comprehend in general terms two parts: the first for drawing axioms from experience; the second on deducing or deriving new experiments from axioms’ (NO, II, x).

What method(s) is Bacon using?

René Descartes Reasoned largely in a deductive (vs

inductive) way from self-evident first principles;

Took his examples from mathematics and physics;

Treated contradictory data in a cavalier way, e.g. in explaining his laws of impact to Mersenne;

Not a ‘protagonist of the hypothetico-deductive method’ (McMullin 1990, 43).

Robert Boyle Put the Baconian plan into practice—

maintaining that accumulating facts was the first task;

Great experimentalist; used quantification; Reported the actual experiments, not general

statements as Galileo had done; Formulated a guide to ‘good’ hypotheses:

Internally consistent Explicate the phenomena Contradict neither other phenomena or ‘manifest

physical truth’, e.g. gravity.

Boyle, continued: An ‘excellent’ hypothesis:

Simple (we would now say ‘parsimonious’);

Not ‘precarious’ or forced; The best and/or only hypothesis that

explicates the phenomena Boyle Joined induction and retroduction

(hypothetico-deduction).