Rationalism, Empiricism, Incorporealism

If the standard American academic Philosophy curriclum is any indication, the Modern era begins when Descartes breaks from Medieval dogmatism, and establishes the Cogito as the foundation of Philosophical endeavor.  Then, in response, Locke insists on the irreducibility of Sense-Experience, thereby setting in motion the Rationalism vs. Empiricism dynamic, typified by the exchanges between Locke and Leibniz.  But, this narrative is deficient in two main respects, with a common root.  First, it abstracts the Meditations from Discourse on Method, thereby suppressing that antedating the latter is Bacon's formulation of Method, which as an autonomous, corporeal activity, constitutes a more profound break from Medievalism than does the incorporeal Cogito.  In other words, the original Rationalism of the era is Experimental Reason, i. e. constituted by instrument-aided methodical procedures of producing and measuring effects. So, too, is the original Empiricism Experimentalist, from which Locke et al. abstract the mere observation of an object falling, from the deliberate dropping of it for the purpose of measuring it.  As a result, Modern Philosophy reverts to Medieval Incorporealism.