Francis Bacon's Idols Essay

In the modern world new discoveries are constantly being made with scientific observations and people who are able to see the world differently. At times these observations are not always adapted by others because the discovery goes against what they already believe to be truth. One of the first people to notice this Francis Bacon. He realized that everyone had different perceptions of the world because of many different influences. These influences fell into four categories which Bacon called idols. “Bacon warned that if we begin our thinking with certainties, we end with questions, but if we begin with questions, we end with certainties. He insisted that we rid ourselves of four idols, which cloud our thinking” (Henson). Idols of the tribe

Sometimes people become their own worst enemies because of what they allow to influence their own thinking. “They are what make us generalize a particular method of explanation to the bitter end, adopt stereotypes…” (Brabandere). The idols of the cave have to do with individual perceptions. These perceptions are based off of education, family, and many other experiences that someone goes through during the course of their life. “For everyone has a cave or den of his own, which refracts and discolors the light of nature” (Para 5). In order for Darwin to have his theory accepted his needed to get into the mind of each individual. This was most likely his toughest task because he had to change the way each person saw they world that they lived in. When people began to read his theory, they based their understanding of it off of things that they had already learned and accepted as truth. When Darwin contradicted one of these things that they already knew, he had to make sure that his evidence reflected the truth so that he could ultimately change their minds. Changing the mind of the individual was probably the toughest task that Darwin had to overcome with his theory of evolution. “According to Bacon, the first goal of any science was to create a special museum of observations and "deviating instances," intended to clear the mind of "idols" that stand in the way of study” (Kopanyeva). The goal of Darwin’s science was to attempt to make this confusing world that people live in and make it simple. He produced a lot of evidence to help clear the minds of those individuals he did not want to change their minds. Darwin met many of the problems of the idols as he was trying to get them out of the minds of a