Inductive Reasoning

Induction (inductio in Latin, epagoge in Greek) traces through Cicero to Aristotle, who attributed it to Socrates as progression from particulars to universals. Francis Bacon revolutionized the method in his 1620 Novum Organum, rejecting Aristotle's top-down deduction for bottom-up empirical observation. Bacon's "ladder of intellect" moved from specific observations to general axioms, establishing the foundation for modern scientific method and dominating experimental science for two centuries.