Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

  • Submitted By: tommyl666
  • Date Submitted: 03/15/2009 7:46 PM
  • Category: Philosophy
  • Words: 1013
  • Page: 5
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Francis Bacon
Bacons ideals were based on the total reformation of traditional thought. This theory, titled The Great Instauration rooted its basis in the assumptions that everything that has been claimed as knowledge in the past is wrong, and the human mind is completely capable of exceeding awareness beyond any understanding we may have presently had. Bacon suggested that our minds are like a mirror slate that can be wiped clean and started anew.

He went on to identify the ways in which our minds have been corrupted into false thought processes. Bacon titled these the “Four Idols”. He believed there are four ways in which we absorb false information.

The first being the idols of the tribe, meaning that we take in ideas from the people around us and the traditions the humankind has established.

Next, the idols of the den, which are the ways that each of us individually takes in information and distorts it on the basis of our upbringing, our beliefs, or false information that we have taken to in the past.

The idols of the marketplace are the miscommunications between masses of people through the misuse of language. This can be done either through words used out of context or by words made up to describe situations not recognized as axiomatic.

The last idol is the idols of the theatre, which are the beliefs we hold in past philosophies that have either been disproved or changed, or are just philosophically dormant. Bacon believed highly in religion however. He believed that the more we search for god the less we rely on our faith and the more distant we grow from knowing god. He was quoted as saying that "the more discordant, therefore, and incredible, the divine mystery is, the more honor is shown to God in believing it, and the nobler is the victory of faith. a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about religion." This philosophy seems to be in direct...

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