The Four Idols Of The Cave Summary

It is pretty difficult not knowing the full truth with our surroundings don’t you think? Francis Bacon thought so. That is why he wrote “The Four Idols” explaining intellectual fallacies under four parts he calls idols. These idols are known as idols of the Tribe, idols of the Cave, idols of the Marketplace and idols of the Theater. Idols of the Tribe are what he calls “false mirror”, which stands for our natural impressions, which distorts the true meaning of things. As he states, “ On the contrary, all perceptions as well of the sense as of the mind are according to the measure of the individual and not according to the measure of the universe.”(pg number and paragraph). Idols of the Cave tells us about the problems individuals and how their passions, ideologies, assumptions lead to misunderstanding of the true nature of things.

When the wrong type of context can create a different meaning of what you actually meant to say. The final idol, of the Theater, speaks about the false learning and scientific beliefs, theories, religion, and social system. As he says, “ The mind, he argued, is not like a wax tablet. On a tablet you cannot write the new till you rub out the old, on the mind you cannot rub out the old except by writing in the new”(pg number par). College is the peak of an adolescent’s life. We come in with the old knowledge and leave with the new. The two texts I believe will help clear away the “idols which beset men’s minds” (593) so that the “understanding [can be] thoroughly freed and cleansed” would be Richard P. Feynman’s “The Value of Science” and “The Allegory of The Cave” by