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The Novum Organum is a philosophical
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
 work by Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban King's Counsel , son of Nicholas Bacon by his second wife Anne Bacon, was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, and author....
 published in 1620. The title translates as "new instrument". This is a reference to Aristotle
Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greeks philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, Poetics , theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology....
's work Organon
Organon

The Organon is the name given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics, to the standard collection of his six works on logic. The works are Categories , Prior Analytics, De Interpretatione, Posterior Analytics, Sophistical Refutations, and Topics ....
, which was his treatise on logic
Logic

Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and inference. Logic is a branch of philosophy, a part of the classical Trivium . The word derives from Greek language ?????? , fem....
 and syllogism
Syllogism

A syllogism, or logical appeal, , is a kind of logical argument in which one proposition is Inference from two others of a certain form....
. In Novum Organum, Bacon details a new system of logic he believes to be superior to the old ways of syllogism. This is now known as the Baconian method
Baconian method

The Baconian method is the investigative method developed by Francis Bacon . It is an early forerunner of the scientific method. The method was put forward in Bacon's book Novum Organum, or 'New Instrument', and was supposed to replace the methods put forward in Aristotle's Organon....
. For Bacon, finding the essence of a thing was a simple process of reduction
Reduction (philosophy)

Reduction is the process by which one object, property, concept, theory, etc., is shown to be explicable in terms of another, lower level, concept, object, property, etc....
, and the use of inductive reasoning.






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The Novum Organum is a philosophical
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
 work by Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban King's Counsel , son of Nicholas Bacon by his second wife Anne Bacon, was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, and author....
 published in 1620. The title translates as "new instrument". This is a reference to Aristotle
Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greeks philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, Poetics , theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology....
's work Organon
Organon

The Organon is the name given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics, to the standard collection of his six works on logic. The works are Categories , Prior Analytics, De Interpretatione, Posterior Analytics, Sophistical Refutations, and Topics ....
, which was his treatise on logic
Logic

Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and inference. Logic is a branch of philosophy, a part of the classical Trivium . The word derives from Greek language ?????? , fem....
 and syllogism
Syllogism

A syllogism, or logical appeal, , is a kind of logical argument in which one proposition is Inference from two others of a certain form....
. In Novum Organum, Bacon details a new system of logic he believes to be superior to the old ways of syllogism. This is now known as the Baconian method
Baconian method

The Baconian method is the investigative method developed by Francis Bacon . It is an early forerunner of the scientific method. The method was put forward in Bacon's book Novum Organum, or 'New Instrument', and was supposed to replace the methods put forward in Aristotle's Organon....
. For Bacon, finding the essence of a thing was a simple process of reduction
Reduction (philosophy)

Reduction is the process by which one object, property, concept, theory, etc., is shown to be explicable in terms of another, lower level, concept, object, property, etc....
, and the use of inductive reasoning. In finding the cause of a phenomenal nature such as heat, one must list all of the situations where heat is found. Then another list should be drawn up, listing situations that are similar to those of the first list except for the lack of heat. A third table lists situations where heat can vary. The form nature, or cause, of heat must be that which is common to all instances in the first table, is lacking from all instances of the second table and varies by degree in instances of the third table.

This work was critical in the historical development of the scientific method
Scientific method

Scientific method refers to techniques for investigating phenomenon, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering observable, empirical and Measure evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning....
.

The cover of Novum Organum depicts a sailing ship passing between two large pillars with sea monsters in the sea. The sailing ship symbolises Bacon on a journey of discovery. The large pillars are Hercules' pillars which symbolise all that was currently known about the world. The sea monsters symbolise what there is left in the world to discover.

External links


  • (in Latin
    Latin

    Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
    )
  • (1863 English
    English language

    English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
     translation)