Styles of Thought: Bacon or Descartes! Which will you choose?

Sir Francis Bacon! Believed in understanding the world from starting from a specific Experiment, leading to a more general conclusion of how the world works He created a method for doing this called the Scientific Method – Problem > Hypothesis > Experiment > Results > Conclusion This is called Inductive reasoning Specific ----------------------------------------------------- General Example: Research and experiments completed show that people who work outdoors have a higher probability of getting skin cancer(specific). Thus, Bacon and inductive reasoning could conclude that all skin cancer is caused by long term exposure to the sun (broad).

Rene Descartes – I think therefore I am Believed in understanding the world through logic and reasoning – experiments weren’t necessary to understand the world, just logic! Understanding the world can be achieved by using general truths about the world to understand specific truths. If A=B is true, and C=A is true, B=C must be true This is called deductive reasoning Example: If the sun (A) causes skin cancer (B), and people who work outside (C) more spend more time in the sun (A), then Rene Descartes and deductive reasoning can conclude that having a job outdoors (C) will increase the chance of getting skin cancer (B) Example that Descartes is known for – If all humans think, and I have thoughts, then I exist as a human – “I think, therefore I am”