Novum Organum And Bacon's Idols

In Novum Organum, Francis Bacon warns against "Idols...which have immigrated into men's minds from the various dogmas of philosophies and also from wrong laws of demonstration." He called these idols, Idols of the Theatre, in which he goes on to talk about how common errors in thinking keep people from arriving at the truth. Descartes, Galileo, and Montaigne are three historic figures whom have tried to fix these errors in thinking in their own writing.

Descartes was a noble man and tried very hard to see things in a different light from everyone else. In doing this he came up with four methods for viewing ideas. His first method is to remain faithful to the laws and customs of his country and his religion. In doing this he first abandoned all of his former opinions and prejudices, and promised himself to not follow promises that would restrict his ability to change his opinions at a later time. Descartes second method is to be stand behind his actions. He feels that anything is better than indecision, even a wrong answer. He sees that as a way to keep him from regretting and future indecision that he may have. His third method is to rule himself and not outside factors, to try and change his desires instead of the world. Happiness can be achieved if people stop trying to control external factors, and start focusing on our thoughts. This is because our thoughts can be controlled, but very little control over outside events. Much less disappointment will come if people stop trying to control such things. The fourth and final method is to choose the best possible job in life. He feels that doing something enjoyable and profitable at the same time will achieve happiness. These ideas are Descartes way of fighting what Bacon says is the way life goes. If everyone were to follow these methods society would be much brighter and happier.

Galileo is another great man that has gone against hat Bacon has stated at the Idols of the Theatre. In The Starry Messenger, Galileo writes of new learning's that contradict the accepted ideas of his time. He felt so strongly about such things that he was tried as a heretic for them. He took the basic idea of a telescope and improved upon it by experimenting with lenses and shaving them to certain sizes. Through all of this experimenting he came up with a telescope that could see farther than anyone ever before him. He was able to come up with a method for measuring the distances between planets and fixed stars. One of his many discoveries was that the surface of the moon was not smooth. This is because his ability to see the craters and deep valleys of the moon allowed him to argue against common knowledge. He also discovered the phases of the moon and how they were caused by a shadow. This discovery led to one of his bigger discoveries. This would be that the moon does not create its own light, but reflects the light of the sun instead. He was also able to see that the moon had an ozone layer, much like the earth does. His biggest and most controversial discovery is that the earth rotates around the sun, not the other way around. They way that he wrote about this could easily be accepted, but the public was so convinced that the sun rotated around the earth that Galileo was sentenced to house arrest.

...