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"…more fully than any man of his time, [Bacon] entertained the idea of the universe as a problem to be solved, examined, meditated upon, rather than as an eternally fixed stage, upon which man walked.
— Loren Eiseley The Man Who Saw Through Time.
The Novum Organum, Bacon's work that may be viewed as a preliminary of the Instauratio, is divided into two parts. The first part, Book I, deals with the need for an inductive system, and the second, Book II, deals with its applications.
In Book I, Bacon lays the grounds of human understanding in observation and experience, in sharp contrast to the popular Aristotelian a priori, deductive method. Bacon proposes an a posteriori, inductive approach. Bacon's idea of such an approach is made metaphorically in his aphorism of the ant, the spider and the bee. Commonly used symbols for understanding nature, the ant experiments by collecting and using. This method was considered to symbolize the human tendency to use facts without clearly understanding them. The spider, on the other hand, does not experiment but produces webs from its own substance, symbolizing the tendency to formulate ideas and facts by thought alone. The method most significant for understanding nature is that of the bee which gathers pollen of the flower, transforms it through its own efforts, allowing the bee to make a different use of it. Bacon believed we must observe and collect experiences, analyze exactly what we know, and then act on the most reliable facts.
Bacon also makes a differentiation between the Anticipation of Nature and the Interpretation of Nature. The Anticipations are generalizations, which are therefore easily believed. The Interpretations are based on various data, enabling the mastery of things. The Interpretations are not arrived at nor easily accepted, but are considered the most stable method of analyzing nature.
Another important idea of Bacon's (for which he was widely known) is his idea of the Four Idols. These Idols are the primary hindrance to studying nature. The first are The Idols of the Tribe and have their foundation in human nature. Bacon here introduces a claim against what he sees as an underlying universalism in human perception, pointing out that perceptions are based purely on the view of an individual. The second set are The Idols of the Cave. Here the idea of the nature of the individual is developed, Bacon posits that the experiences and personality act upon the way each individual perceives nature, with the distinct possibility of misperception. The third are The Idols of the Marketplace. These Idols deal with language usage. Due to simple error in the choosing of words to convey a certain meaning, one may express the wrong idea to another. The fourth are The Idols of the Theatre. These Idols deal with the dogmas of all philosophies. One must not take established ideas for granted; one should challenge them.
In Book II, Bacon discusses the acquisition of facts. In spite of Bacon's rejection of Aristotle's deductive syllogism, Bacon also contended that science involves the discovery of a phenomenon's causes. For Aristotle, this process involves uncovering its four causes: formal, material, efficient, and final. Bacon follows Aristotle by seeing science as the discovery of formal causes. According to Bacon, the formal causes of a thing are its physical properties, its "forms". For example, the formal cause, or the scientific nature, of heat is the violent and irregular motion of particles. For Bacon a good scientific method will reveal such forms of a thing, noting four particular outcomes. First, the evidence will not deceive; second, it will not be limiting to any particular mode of operation; third, it necessarily leads to action; and fourth, it leads to the discovery of the necessary conditions of the given nature considered (as the example of heat mentioned).
Bacon's inductive methodology involves presence, absence, and degrees, as presented in the three "Tables of Comparative Instances." The "Table of Presence" (agreement) involves examining the grouping of similar instances of a phenomena (things that irradiate heat) and gathering other circumstances that are common amongst them (the movement of particles). The second, "Table of Absence," involves the opposite: grouping instances in which the phenomenon is absent, and gathering the circumstances that are common amongst them. The study of instances of coldness will produce a grouping of conditions irrelevant to the phenomena of heat, such as the given density of something. Finally, the "Table of Degrees" is the degree to which a given phenomena is manifest and the gathering of the circumstances common here as well (the varying speeds in the irregular motion of particles). The gathering of data in the three tables together is the method of true induction. The "first vintage" is the evidence produced after the albeit limited nature of the survey in the inductive method.
Bacon believed himself the inventor of a scientific method, "a light that would eventually disclose and bring into sight all that is most hidden and secret in the universe." The collection of data, their judicious interpretation, the carrying out of experiments, leading the scientist to learn the secrets of nature by organized observation of its regularities. Bacon's ideas were influential on science and philosophy in seventeenth century Europe.
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