The New Organon (Novum Organum)

The New Organon (in Latin, Novum Organum) is a historic work by Francis Bacon which lays out the system of logic which became known as the Baconian Method. Originally penned in Latin, this text discusses the various methods of reasoning one may use to come to a sound conclusion. The philosophical debate on the nature of inductive and reductive thinking has seen scholars deem The New Organon to be one of the first writings to signify the Enlightenment period of human development. It would also prove notable for its questioning of antiquity: until this time, Greek thought on logic had gone largely unchallenged. Perhaps most significantly of all is this work's impact upon the eventual formulation of the scientific method. Although strictly a text of philosophy, it was the intellectual rigors described by Bacon that were to become a forebear to the intensive development of the sciences in the 17th and 18th centuries.