Sep 23, 2019 · Answer to Read from Francis Bacon's "Novum Organum" (Reading 23.1) in Fiero. As per Fiero, How does the notion of an "idol" serve Bacon's purpose in writing ... How does the notion of an "idol" serve Bacon's purpose in writing this treatise? Arts & Humanities English. ... Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. ...
May 20, 2021 · Francis Bacon, to whom we owe the idea of the scientific method, simply and clearly identified four barriers to the truth, what he called …
Francis Bacon, to whom we owe the idea of the scientific method, simply and clearly identified four barriers to the truth, what he called “idols and false notions.” They are:
The solution Bacon offers comes, first, in recognizing these idols for what they are. Once we see that we have certain biases, we can take pains to rid ourselves of them. Of course, it’s impossible to be entirely free of prejudice.
According to Bacon, these four idols prevent us from progressing in scientific investigation. The specific way in which this was relevant to our English class was because these four idols and the barrier they provide is a mindset to be aware of within critical thinking , as well. The first idol which Bacon warns us about, the idol of the tribe, ...
The second idol which Bacon discusses is the idol of the cave. Bacon describes this idol by saying that this idol is “the idols of the individual man.”. In essence, Bacon is saying that this idol is different for each individual person.
The third idol is the idol of the marketplace. Bacon describes this idol by saying “the ill and unfit choice of words wonderfully obstructs the understanding.”. This translates to the idol of the marketplace being an idol which is created by jargon and other talk. This happens when man hears this type of talk from his associates.
Bacon tells us “it is therefore that we be sober-minded, and give to faith that only which is faith’s. . . . “ According to my understanding, Bacon is advising us to stay alert so that none of the four idols overtake our mind.
Some are narrow minded because they attended public school. There are others who are narrow minded due to the upbringing they received. And there are still others who are narrow minded due to the dislikes which they harbor. These are just a few things which make people unwilling to truly consider other perspectives.
Most importantly, hundreds of years before the advent of modern psychology, Bacon understood clearly that the human mind doesn’t always reason correctly, and that any approach to scientific knowledge must start with that understanding.
The Idols of the Tribe made the false assumption that our most natural and basic sense of thing was the correct one. He called our natural impressions a “false mirror” which distorted the true nature of things.
The Idols of the Cave were the problems of individuals, their passions and enthusiasms, their devotions and ideologies, all of which led to misunderstandings of the true nature of things.
You might call the Idols of the Marketplace a problem of political discourse: The use of words to mislead. (Nearly a half a century later, Garrett Hardin would argue similarly that good thinkers need a literary filter to suss out sense from nonsense.)
The final idol, of the Theater, is how Bacon referred to long-received wisdom, the ancient systems of philosophy, the arbitrary divisions of knowledge and classification systems held onto like dogma. Without emptying one’s mind of the old ways, no new progress could be made. This would be an important lasting value of the Baconian view of science.
Even with his rationalistic view of the world, a rigorous devotion to truth, Bacon realized that unless you used creative storytelling and engaged a learner’s mind, it would be impossible to communicate real truths about the world. He knew the power narrative had to instruct. E.O. Wilson writes in Consilience: