Ethology and the ‘Baconian’ Method

Abstract

AMONG the many stimulating ideas elaborated by Sir Peter Medawar in his Presidential Address¹ to Section D of the British Association, for the Advancement of Science is the claim that the foundation and subsequent development of what has come to be known as ‘ethology’ have “demonstrated the sterility of the old experimental approach” of test-stimulus and response, and illustrate “the danger of doing experiments in the Baconian style; that is to say, the danger of contriving ‘experiences’ intended merely to enlarge our general store of empirical knowledge rather than to sustain or confute a specific hypothesis or pre-supposition”.