Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon believed that the path to new knowledge is through inductive reasoning. He emphasized the importance of collecting and analyzing data to draw conclusions based on evidence rather than relying solely on deductive logic or preconceived ideas.
The major champion of inductive reasoning is often considered to be Sir Francis Bacon, an English philosopher and statesman who advocated for the use of inductive reasoning as a method for acquiring knowledge and understanding the natural world. He believed that observations and experiments should serve as the basis for drawing general principles or conclusions.
Plato, a Greek philosopher, believed that knowledge is inborn and that people are born with innate ideas that they recollect through learning and experience. The theory of innate knowledge is known as the theory of recollection.
Plato believed in the existence of absolute truth and the concept of ideal forms. He also emphasized the importance of reason, logic, and the pursuit of knowledge through dialectic reasoning. Additionally, Plato believed in the immortality of the soul and the idea of a just society led by philosopher-kings.
Plato, a philosopher in ancient Greece, believed that humans have innate knowledge and that through the practice of dialectic – a method of reasoning and discussion – one can uncover these core ideas or forms that are buried within the human soul. Plato's theory of recollection suggests that true knowledge is not acquired through experience, but through remembering what the soul had already known prior to birth.
Plato believed in the existence of an objective reality beyond the physical world, known as the realm of Forms or Ideas. He believed in the immortality of the soul and the importance of seeking truth and knowledge through dialectic reasoning. He also promoted the idea of a just society ruled by philosopher-kings who have attained enlightenment.
Francis Bacon
Plato, a Greek philosopher, believed that knowledge is inborn and that people are born with innate ideas that they recollect through learning and experience. The theory of innate knowledge is known as the theory of recollection.
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who believed that knowledge was developed from sense of impression.
Induction or inductive reasoning, sometimes called inductive logic, is the process of reasoning in which the premises of an argument are believed to support the conclusion but do not entail the premises; i.e. they do not ensure its truth. Induction is a form of reasoning that makes generalizations based on individual instances.[1] It is used to ascribe properties or relations to types based on an observation instance (i.e., on a number of observations or experiences); or to formulate laws based on limited observations of recurring phenomenal patterns.
Transcendentalists
The Ancient Greek philosopher Plato (c. 428 - c. 348 BCE) believed that knowledge is inherited and learning is development of ideas that are hidden in the soul. According to Plato, each soul existed before birth and has knowledge about everything.
Both Descartes and Bacon had their own step-by-step methods that were created before the scientific method. The idea of answering scientific or philosophical questions in an ordered way came from Bacon and Descartes and is the basis of the scientific method.
The philosopher you are referring to is John Locke. He proposed the theory of empiricism, suggesting that our minds are tabula rasa, or blank slates, at birth and that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience and observation.
Empiricist philosophers, such as John Locke, David Hume, and George Berkeley, believe that all knowledge comes from sensory experience. They argue that individuals gain knowledge through observation and perception of the external world.
John Locke, a British philosopher, famously argued in his work "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" that knowledge is not innate but is instead developed through experiences and interactions with the external world. This philosophy is known as empiricism and contrasts with the idea of innate knowledge proposed by other philosophers like Plato.
Plato, a classical Greek philosopher, believed in the concept of a philosopher king. In his work "The Republic," Plato argued that a ruler with a strong philosophical background and education would make the best leader for a society, as they would possess wisdom and knowledge necessary to govern justly.
Both are equally important. Inductive reasoning is when one makes a conclusion based on patterns; deductive reasoning is based on a hypothesis already believed to be true. However, deductive reasoning does give a more "solid" conclusion because as long as the hypothesis is true, the conclusion will most likely to be true. An example is saying that all dogs are big; Harry is a dog, so it must be big. Since the hypothesis all dogs are big is false, Harry may not necessarily be big. If I change my hypothesis to be all dogs are mammals, thus concluding that Harry is a mammal since it is a dog, I would be correct, for I changed my hypothesis to a true fact. Using inductive reasoning, on the other hand, may result in a false conclusion. For example, since I am a human and I have brown hair, one could use inductive reasoning to say all humans have brown hair, which would be false. So, to sum it up, both inductive and deductive reasoning are important, but deductive reasoning is usually more reliable since as long as the hypothesis one's conclusion is based on is true, the conclusion itself will usually be true.