......................................................................................................Course Developed by Dr. Sambit Mallick

The question, ‘What is the method of science?', is as old as science itself. Aristotle worked out a detailed answer to this question and his theory of scientific method, like his scientific theories, exercised tremendous influence till around 16 th century. However, with the emergence of modern science and modern philosophy in 17 th century, the question, ‘What is the method of science?', was raised afresh. The very attempt to provide a new answer to the question amounted to a decisive break with the past, as it implies a dissatisfaction with the Aristotelean theory of scientific method. We, thus, have in the seventeenth century, the birth of “modern philosophy of science”.

Inductivism and Hypothesism

In the whole period of three centuries – from the seventeenth to nineteenth – two views stand out prominently as answers to the question, ‘What is the method of science?'. The first view is called inductivism according to which the method of science is the method of induction. The second view is called hypothesism according to which the method of science is called the method of hypothesis. Inductivism is pioneered by Francis Bacon and hypothesism by Rene Descartes. The two views sought to provide two models of scientific method. Hence, one can speak of the Baconean model and the Cartesian model of scientific method. Inductivism is rooted in empiricism according to which only those ideas which are traceable to sense experience are legitimate. Hypothesism is gounded in rationalism according to which a significant portion of human knowledge cannot be traced to, and therefore is independent of sense experience.