Article ID: CBB088934341

Scientific Method, Induction, and Probability: The Whewell–De Morgan Debate on Baconianism, 1830s–1850s (2024)

unapi

By focusing on the nineteenth-century debate between William Whewell and Augustus De Morgan on the nature and scope of scientific method and induction, this article captures an important episode in the history of Baconianism. More specifically, it sheds new light on the social and intellectual construction of Francis Bacon as an emblem of modern science and on British Baconianism as part of the creation of a vision of the modern enterprise. A critic of Whewell’s renovated Baconianism and an advocate of an alternative anti-Baconian (or pro-Newtonian) view of science, De Morgan is presented for the first time as a philosopher of science (or metascientist), one who pioneered the application of probability theory to scientific reasoning.

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB088934341/

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Authors & Contributors
Verburgt, Lukas M.
Achinstein, Peter
Brooke-Smith, James
Cobb, Aaron D.
Delve, Janet
Di Fate, Victor Joseph
Journals
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Historia Mathematica
Chinese Journal for the History of Science and Technology
Configurations: A Journal of Literature, Science, and Technology
HOPOS
Journal Electronique d'Histoire des Probabilités et de la Statistique
Concepts
Induction
Philosophy of science
Baconianism
Methodology of science; scientific method
Probability and statistics
History of philosophy of science
People
Whewell, William
De Morgan, Augustus
Mill, John Stuart
Ellis, Robert Leslie
Newton, Isaac
Babbage, Charles
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
17th century
20th century
Places
Great Britain
France
England
Institutions
Cambridge University
Oxford University
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