Bacon's Inductive Method

Bacon s adaptation of traditional methods was to begin with observation of discrete facts, and then from observed similarities in many separate events, to arrive at generalizations—and thus he formulated his inductive method. This method ofinduction enabled him to derive rational generalizations from his observations of disparate facts. Bacon's method was influential in the development of modern science, which was already in the process of development during his life-time. Bacon did not di...

 The Fallacy of the Insect Age

To end on a more cheerful note, I think I have found a fallacy or two in some of the more spectacular arguments used by the Insect Age enthusiasts when they are hardest pressed. For one thing, the fact that insects as a class are 300,000,000 years old, if it is a fact, while we have been here only about 1,000,000 years, or 3,000,000 at the outside, does not prove to me that the insects are bound to win. It takes more than mere old age to get along these days. I think it quite likely that the ...