Francis Bacon - The 4 Idols and the Limitations of the Mind

Francis Bacon and his 4 idols

Part 1 - The Idols

The Renaissance

The Renaissance marked a renewed interest in classical ideas about philosophy, art, law, religion and critical thinking.

Classical texts and ideas become increasingly popularized, and strongly influence concepts of critical thinking.

This shift in thinking stimulated the development of new theories and advances in science, literature, and the arts that laid the foundations for the modern world.

That renewed focus inspired scholars to think more critically about the world around them.

One of those scholars was Francis Bacon.

Born in England in 1516, Bacon lived through the Renaissance in its peak periods from Italy to Northern Europe. His interest peaked in many of the Renaissance concepts, including how minds are used to seek new knowledge.

After being made the first Viscount Alban (English Statesman and Philosopher), he had many talents including diplomacy, law, writing, science and philosophy.

One of Bacon’s key contributions to society was moving scholarly culture away from reverence for “traditional” methods.

He believed to achieve objective truth, one had to hold minimum assumptions before investigating a problem and break loose from bad mental habits.

He called these “idols”

Bacon described these mental errors in his book Novum Organum (1620):

“The human understanding when it has once an opinion draws all things else to support and agree with it. It neglects and despises, sets aside and rejects.” The mind without choice, imbibes and treasures up the first notice of things, from whence all of the rest proceed, errors but forever prevail, and remain uncorrected.”

He categorized these errors into 4 main idols: Idols of the Tribe, Idols of the Theatre, Idols of the Cave, and Idols of the Marketplace.

Each idol reflects the other in different forms of the same mistake:

Submitting to the titans

Idols of the Tribe

We fall victim to this idol when we assume our first impressions are the best or most correct answer. Idols of the Tribe have their foundation in human nature, and it’s a false assertion that the sense of man is the measure of things.

Bacon explains that human understanding is like a false mirror, receiving rays irregularly by distorting the nature of ideas by mingling its own nature with it.

Idols of the Cave

This idol is intertwined with one’s ideologies and how they’re shaped by their education. It’s considered one of the most influential because bad educations and thinking habits can damage people’s ability to question other ideas, making people lazy to pursue the truth and sacrifice their beliefs to condemn common dogma.

“Every human has a den of their own which refracts and discolours the light of nature, owning either to his or her own education and conversation with others, or to the reading of books, and to the authority of those he or she admires.” - Francis Bacon

Bacon explains that we all have caves in our minds that protect our most attached beliefs and ideologies.

These so-called “caves”, develop through our educations.

They formulate from the beginning of childhood to late adulthood, owing to someone or something we respect: An authority figure.

If we respect our parents (as we all should), it’s likely we respect their advice and beliefs, if we respect our teachers (think 2x about this one), we respect their position and don’t question them because they “know more” than us.

From the dawn of time, we have been trained and conditioned to respect and submit to authority. From the dawn of time, we have been cognitively lazy.

Our mental caves repeal any objecting ideas that don't fall in line with what someone we respect had said or a form of education we abide by, crippling our thinking abilities.

When we’re tested, we sit tight and prefer comfort instead of absorbing new information. We reject any information that goes against our beliefs and educations because it makes us think hard and forces us to go beyond what we already know.

Idols of the Marketplace

The marketplace refers to the idea of propaganda, in that they are concerned with absurd words to soften people’s deep thinking abilities. We have seen this with Hitler, Stalin, and basically, any form of high power misused.

These people not only limited deep thinking, but removed thinking altogether through inappropriate practices.

Idols of the Theatre

This last and final is the unquestioned authority of ancient texts. For the Theatre, these texts are held in the highest regard, serving as the ultimate source of guidance and knowledge.

This explains why they are highly reputable. In the Renaissance, as new ideas about intellectual development arose (and even before them), books were the #1 source of information. It served as the fundamental foundation of knowledge.

Bacon argues, because of it, it causes people to believe in them too much, without questioning the texts.

Today’s Uses

Even though this idea is more than 400 years old, we can see these patterns Bacon describes everywhere.

Specifically, Idols of The Cave.

From early childhood, we automatically respect our parents, despite our minds not being developed enough because we know what will happen if we don’t. The formation of mental caves starts early and takes its most dangerous form in the later stages.

As we grow and mature, we start developing our own caves based on what we have heard, seen or what’s been passed down from our influences. Repeated exposure to ideas from respected figures makes it challenging for one to think outside them.

Not to mention, a cycle of subjection strengthens our attachment. So when we encounter conflicting views, it fells like a part of us is being lost.

These mental caves then serve as influential “razors” later on. When it comes to making decisions, these caves become a rule of thumb. We think back to what someone we value had said, something we’ve heard, or an event we experienced to make the decision-making process more manageable.

It becomes a source of reference, a powerful razor and a cognitive shortcut.

With so many subconscious shortcuts, our capacity to take up large volumes of intellectual fights in our minds has decreased over the last few years. It’s just easier to sit tight with what we have than to stand up and expand.

As our dependencies on our Mental Caves grow, so will our resistance to new ideas and the wrestling that needs to take place in our minds.

So how do we avoid the “idols?”

Part 2 - Subconscious Conditioning

Bacon explains the only way to save oneself from these idols is to engage in deep thinking and become a deep thinker. These 4 idols, particularly the idols of the cave, are caused by one submitting to authority, and accepting what’s been told.

To understand how we have been conditioned, we need to understand our Robotic Natures and Belief in Systematic Cycles.

Robotic Natures

In today’s world, we truly do not understand how robotic we are.

We have much less “self-control” than we think.

This robotic nature can be described through personal cycles. Sleep Cycles, Food (Digestion) Cycles, are all a list of behaviors, and after consistent repetition, becomes something we do on a daily basis without realizing it.

But, when we look outside ourselves, there’s one cycle that sticks out. I call it the “education- then- career cycle”. It perfectly describes a societal robotic nature.

Education -then- Career Cycle

Naturally, when we ask for advice about our professional life we get this answer:

“Well, you must get good grades and look for a nice, prestigious university. Then, you must pursue a degree there. Then, find a job and settle”

When we figuratively think about this idea, it’s a cycle, just not a repeating one (for the most part):

(Elementary → Middle → High → College/University → Job)

We are often told this is the path to success. We are told to get the grades, top college and then settle. It must be correct because it’s what everyone has done… right?

It’s an assumption we make. We assume that’s how everyone has done it, and that’s what we should do. We see others go to school so we go too, we go to university because everyone goes and we pursue a degree becomes everyone does.

Sure you thought about what school, or what degree, but have you thought about why?

Why do I go to school? Who am I listening to? Who am I doing this for and why? Who am I working for?

Most people never ask these questions, and they fall to the feet of their masters. We’ve been conditioned to listen and do what we’re told. In a world of control and power, we must understand why we’re doing what we’re doing and detach from authority.

Or we will accidentally live someone else’s life.

Part 3 - Unsubmitting and Unplugging

Unsubmit

The art of unsubmitting from authority is less spoken about and often frowned upon. The idea that you should stop listening to people you respect and start thinking on your own is scary and uncomfortable, yet powerful.

Unsubmitting is a simple ritual anyone can do to understand their current phase in life. It forces us to detach from our mental caves, social groups and respected idols to think deeply about the “why” behind our actions.

Unplug

Submerged in the depths of distant silence, reality is chaotic with constant noise about what to do next.

What’s next for your career? What college are you going to? Any chosen career?

What will you do if you don’t have the answer?! (the hardest question to answer.)

Ramping questions, with a few answers, and detaching from these questions is a true superpower.

It’s common for young individuals, like myself, in this society to listen to our authoritative figures about what to do. It’s challenging to untie desires, what’s been modelled, and what might be expected.

Unplugging questions all of that.

It means taking a step back, from the noise, and asking questions that make us wonder who we are and what it is that we’re doing.

It means to ask deep questions that make you think otherwise. It means to go beyond what we already know to find out what we don’t know.

“The unexamined life is not worth living” - Socrates

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- Cheaithanya