BACONIAN METHOD

Baconian method: translation

The method of induction advocated by Francis Bacon, especially in Part II of the Novum Organon . The aim of science is to establish laws; for this purpose an exhaustive enumeration of instances of phenomena, together with the way in which they vary, and the occurrence of negative instances, must be made. Experiments then test the results that emerge. The method is a forerunner of Mill's methods . It is sometimes erroneously supposed that the Baconian method is confined to simple enumeration of instances selected in a mechanical fashion, and generalization therefrom.