Explain the fundamental ideas of Bacon, Descartes, and Locke

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Francis Bacon was the leading advocate of the empirical method, one of the most characteristic features of the Scientific Revolution. The empirical method is a type of inductive reasoning, a process that draws on the particulars of sensory evidence for the formulation of general principles (or axioms). In his work, Novum Organum, he argued that human beings might become "the masters and possessors of Nature" only through scientific study guided by precise methods. He promoted an objective system of experimentation, tabulation, and record keeping that became the touchstone of modern scientific inquiry. Further, Bacon distrusted human subjectivity, calling it a "false mirror" and called for objectivity and experimentation, which led to the founding of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge.
Descartes favored a more rational and philosophical approach to understanding. As opposed to inductive reasoning, he favored deductive reasoning. The deductive process begins with clearly established general premises and moves toward the establishment of particular truths. Descartes challenged all things and trusted that the clear and unbiased mind was the source of all natural understanding. His approach lead to Cartesian dualism, the view that holds the mind (a thinking entity) as distinct from the body. His rationalism also bridged the gap between religion and the new sciences. He associated God with "the mathematical order of nature," an approach that bridged the gap between religion and science. This belief is known as deism, a "natural" religion based on human reason rather than revelation.
John Lock also championed the empirical method, using it to make sense of human nature. According to Locke, the human mind at birth is a tabula rasa ("blank slate") upon which experience—consisting of sensation, followed by reflection—writes the script. There are no innate moral principles or ideas; human knowledge consists only of the progressive accumulation of the evidence of the senses.