Francis Bacon, René Descartes and the New Science

Abstract

In the Middle Ages and with the Italian Humanists there were two options with relation to the style of philosophizing, involving different opinions about the essence of knowledge and truth, man and education, and especially the function of language. And yet these options are not the only ones possible. Around 1600 a new ideal of science appeared with Francis Bacon and René Descartes, which differed considerably from the medieval and humanistic ideal. This new ideal also involved a different conception of truth, of language, and of what it means to the human. In the light of the conflict between philosophy and rhetoric and against the background of what has been said above, it is worthwhile to give some consideration to the origin and development of what was called the ‘new science’.