The development of empiricism was furthered by Francis Bacon in Novum Organum. In part, it was a counteraction to the Scholastics and Scholasticism, whose speculative philosophies Bacon vehemently opposed. Instead, Bacon argues in Novum Organum that the only knowledge that is significant to man is empirically rooted in nature. He believed that all knowledge should be studied via a systematic method that is judicious. He was influenced by other artists, thinkers, and scientists, including the materialist theories proffered by Democritus and the discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo. Bacon believed that “a clear system of scientific inquiry would assure man’s mastery over the natural world. He deplored generalizations that might obscure the exceptions to every rule and vigorously sought the negative for every positive, in order to bring both into a unified system of thought” (Murphy 72).
Bacon explains his inductive method of inquiry in Novum Organum. He argues that speculation, perceived notions, and verification must be laid aside while the man of scientific inquiry searches for evidence that falsifies any hypothesis not valid in light of empirical evidence in nature. He felt that by discovering falsificatory evidence, scientists could eliminate wrong hypotheses, which allows for more scientific progress than experiments that are geared to verify them. Bacon argued against induction that was merely a manner of enumeration, where generalized hypotheses that have not been proven false gather strength from finding examples that verify them.
Nonetheless, Bacon argued that there are four classes of forms that get in the way of the inductive method of investigation “There are four classes of idols which beset man’s minds. To these for distinction’s sake I have assigned names,--calling the first class of Idols of the Tribe; the second, Idols of the Cave; the third, Idols of the Marketp
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