The Scientific Method

Abstract

The development and establishment of the characteristic methodology of science has always been regarded as constitutive of the Scientific Revolution. A. C. Crombie tried to suggest that at least one major element of that methodology, experimentalism, could be traced back to the thirteenth century [41; 42], but the tide of historiographical consensus is definitely running against him [139: 361]. Similarly, although there were mathematical sciences throughout the medieval period, it is generally acknowledged that the period of the Scientific Revolution saw a dramatic change in conceptions of, and attitudes towards, the mathematical analysis of nature. In this chapter we will consider both of these major components of the scientific method in turn.