Francis Bacon’s Contribution to Science

Francis Bacon’s Contribution to Science

Francis Bacon is remembered for his contribution to science and technology. Bacon was not involved directly in doing science but was instead involved in contributing to the development of science. Francis is associated with being a contemporary to great scientists such as Galileo and William Harvey. However, Bacon was a curious philosopher whose main contribution was the criticism of the developments made on science. Bacon’s works are based on literary sources had was not involved in original observations to support his criticisms. However, Bacon’s criticism has grown to make sense in the current field of science due to his ability to put together information from several literary sources to come up with a criticism. Bacon’s place in the history of science is chiefly held on his interest in natural philosophy, scientific methods, projects based on the practical organization of science, and his influence upon the development of science in the later 17^th century.

Bacon’s curiosity separated him from the works of development done by scientists before and during his time. Francis Bacon was known to be knowledgeable about matters to do with natural sciences although his knowledge was based on literary research. Most of the materials included in Bacon’s history are obtained from literary sources rather than firsthand observations. Bacon’s works have been entirely based on criticism on his contemporaries in science as well as his predecessors in philosophy. The sense in Bacon’s criticism has beaten the test of time to stand in the current level of scientific development. For example, Bacon was not at terms with Copernican, which attacked Ptolemy and Copernicus for making conclusions based on mere calculations as well as predictions instead of philosophy. The claim has made sense in the present science since philosophy has appeared to be more reliable than most forecasts and projections that are prone to several errors. The criticism by Bacon was based on the quick conclusions made by scientists without due considerations of experiments, which could give different points of view. In addition to objections on scientific developments, Bacon also contributed to creating dilemmas that challenged scientists into involving themselves in extensive research to solve his difficulties.

The dilemma of atomism created by Bacon was a significant challenge posed towards scientists. The views of Bacon towards the atoms changed considerably with time. Initially, Bacon had been a sympathizer of the atomic theory concerned with the discussion of Democritus. However, the mentality and perception of Bacon changed to the total rejection of the claim given concerning the structure of the atom (Phillips, p. 380). The new perception by Bacon towards the atom was the existence of vacuum and unchangeableness of matter although the opinion was based on false evidence. Besides creating a dilemma on the structure of the atom, Bacon made a significant impact in the field of science by criticizing the works of Aristotle who had been believed by scientists to have been basing his arguments on certain theories.

The introduction of the Baconian method of analyzing research brought a significant turn of events in Bacon’s career and the science field at large. Before Bacon, scholars had been basing their conclusions in theories believing that Aristotle’s theories were unquestionable, a fact that had led to stagnation in the field of science (Juan, p.2). In 1620, Francis Bacon published one of his most influential works, The Novum Organum Scientiarum. The work was mostly a rejection of the philosophy by Aristotle and the introduction of the Baconian method by Francis Bacon. The Baconian method involved the use of inductive reasoning before arriving at facts and the careful observation of events before generalizing conclusions. Developments in the scientific method of modern science came to be based on the Baconian method, years later. The laws of science are discovered by the careful gathering and analysis of data from experiments and observation, a development that is directly attributed to Bacon. Bacon has been referred to as the father of the scientific method since his work laid the foundation for the scientific revolution.

The scientific revolution owes much to the works developed by Francis Bacon. The Baconian method is based on the requirement that facts should only be established from careful and systematic observations. Additionally, entire observation process should involve the use of induction before generalizing facts into axioms and caution to avoid making more generalizations that should be the case if the facts were to be put into a demonstration. In addition, the process developed by Bacon brought an end to the use of old superstitions and overgeneralization of facts. Also, the use of unproven facts came to an end setting the pace for a scientific revolution. Scientists have confidently employed the principles developed by Bacon to make discoveries that have remained withstanding to date. Bacon’s arguments were based on his emphasis on the use of experiments to provide any observations required.

In sum, Francis Bacon is one of the most celebrated scientists of his time. The modern scientific thinking that is based on the use of experiments to get observations can be attributed to Bacon’s work in the field of science. The Baconian method has been the most outstanding work by Bacon and has formed the basis for several scientific discoveries.

Works Cited

Añel, Juan A. “Reflections on the Scientific Method at the beginning of the twenty-first century.”             Contemporary Physics (2019): 1-3.

Phillips, Denise. “Francis Bacon and the Germans: Stories from when ‘science’meant         ‘Wissenschaft’.” History of Science 53.4 (2015): 378-394.