the products of a thing often supersede it.
in this case, the development of inference is certainly a consequence of the development of the scientific method. but the validity of the latter is a mathematical consequence of the validity of the former. bayesian inference is more fundamental.
another good book that informs my personal views on this matter: http://www.amazon.com/Probability-Theory-Logic-Science-Vol/d...
The are very interesting though, that's for sure.