If ever there existed two men whose life’s purpose was to overthrow the philosophical principles and prestige of Aristotle and replace it with that of their own those two men would, most certainly, be Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes. Both men toiled endlessly to refute Aristotle’s position and stood firm in rejecting his deductive method of reasoning. Still, this is by no means the only common ground that these two philosophers have. But it is a significant one nonetheless. In this, both Bacon and Descartes teach us all a very wise lesson. We should never be too quick to take someone else's word about something when we are completely capable of making the determination for ourselves. We should always question the authorities of our day and challenge ourselves to come up with new methods and means of addressing the same problems. In this, Bacon and Descartes stand together. 

    Setting aside this similarity for a moment, it is worth noting that these two philosophers could not complement one another more if they tried. In fact, this complementary relationship turned out to be the best thing science has ever seen. That is, it was from this interplay of philosophical ideas that the scientific method was born. What greater contribution is there? Literally, every discovery ever made using the scientific method can be credited to the work Bacon and Descartes. A stunning accomplishment indeed. Understanding now, the significance of this relationship, let us move on to analysing each approach in particular. 

    Up first, we have Sir Francis Bacon and the four stages he uses to conduct his new found method of reasoning. Initial Bacon calls for observations to be made without bias.In other words, the collection of raw data. Next, these observations should be examined for similarities, differences, patterns, and divergences. Once examined, inferences should be drawn that address or attempt to explain the relationships found, or not found, between observations made and their relationship to one another. Lastly, and reiterating Bacon’s unique practice of questioning everything, the inferences that were drawn from the observations should be tested and confirmed. 

    Along with this new method of reasoning though, Bacon cautions that our sense perceptions should not be taken at face value. Bacon goes on to warn us about, what he calls, the idols of the mind. Bacon claims that these idols fog our judgements and masquerade as knowledge. The first are what Bacon calls, the idols of the tribe, (an egocentric manipulation of nature). The second, idols of the cave, (an individualized lense through which reality is skewed by education and vocation). The third, idols of the square or marketplace, (contradictory definitions of terms and words). Lastly, idols of the theater, (aged and erroneous systems of thought passed down from prior generations).

     Not completely unlike Bacon, Descartes also believed that sense perception could not be trusted and that knowledge needed to be gained independent of it. For Descartes, This left three alternative options (innate ideas, reason, and deduction). Though Descartes did not explicitly condemn the practical use of Bacon’s inductive method, he did point out that it was incapable of being applied to mathematics. For Descartes, because everything could be represented mathematically, inductive reasoning fell short. Descartes thought that all knowledge existed within the mind and that contemplation and reasoned judgement were the only tools necessary for determining truth. In this, Descartes developed his own method for determining truth. 

In his method Descartes began by doubting. A practice that would come to be called cartesian skepticism. Here, nothing was to be accepted as true unless it was completely undeniable or had the proper support necessary to sustain that truth. Because large problems were too intellectually unwieldy and involved far too many facets, Descart proposed that each problem needed to be broken down into as many smaller problems as possible From here, a sort of synthesis could begin where the problem solver could move progressively from one issue to the next organizing their thoughts and solutions systematically as they worked their way through each small problem. In this way, large complex problems could be grasped incrementally. Once a solution, or set of solutions were gained had, however, that did not conclude the inquiry. Rather, because Descartes was the skeptic that he was, everything needed to be retraced and the solution tested. In other words, Descartes's findings needed to be converted into logical deductive proofs that could be tried and tested. 

     Although Mankind has attempted to develop methods of reasoning and of determining truth since we began thinking, there is no question that some methods are better than others. It is for this reason that Bacon and Descartes are worth mentioning. And, even though, each of their methods are radically different, they both work together to create a workable model for organizing and hypothesizing the unknown. That is, the scientific method. Today, the hallmarks of both philosophers can be seen operating side-by-side examining the most perplexing questions modern science, physics, and philosophy has ever contemplated.