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tion. Under the first head, Bacon again instances Aristotle, whom 

 he accuses of " fashioning the world out of categories " ; under the 

 second he glances especially at the alchemists; and under the third 

 he refers to Pythagoras and Plato. To follow Bacon into these his- 

 toric issues docs not belong to our present purpose. Suffice it to 

 notice the continued vitality of these three classes of speculative 

 error. Bacon's judgment of Aristotle — that " he did not consult 

 experience as he should have done, in order to the framing of his 

 decisions and axioms; but, having first determined the question ac- 

 cording to his will, he then resorts to experience, and, bending her 

 into conformity with his placets, leads her about like a captive in a 

 procession " — is at least equally applicable to thinkers like Hegel 

 and his followers. Empiricism has by no means been eliminated 

 from the scientific or would-be scientific world. And as for the 

 philosophy which is corrupted by myth and tradition, the countless 

 attempts that are still made to " reconcile " the facts of science 

 with the data and prepossessions of theology are enough to prove 

 that, mutato nomine, the methods of Pythagoras and Plato and of 

 those who in Bacon's day sought " to found a system of natural phi- 

 losophy on the first chapter of Genesis, on the book of Job, and other 

 parts of the sacred writings," are as yet far from obsolete. 



It is hardly necessary to call attention to the fact that there is 

 a close similarity between systematic empiricism and some of the 

 dangers brought out in connection with the Idols of the Tribe, for 

 in each case stress must be laid on the tendency to generalize has- 

 tily, depend on scattered and inadequate data, and seek for light 

 in the " narrowness and darkness " of insufficient knowledge. This 

 matter is important only as showing how a common weakness may 

 be caught up and dignified in a philosophic system and rendered 

 more dangerous by the adventitious weight and influence which it 

 gains thereby. Another point, not distinctly dealt with by Bacon, 

 calls, however, for special remark. While the various Idols of the 

 Theater, or of Systems, exercise their own peculiar and character- 

 istic influences for evil, they all tend to the debasement of thought 

 by reason of the authority which they gradually acquire. Asso- 

 ciated with great names, promulgated by schools, officially ex- 

 pounded by disciples and commentators, they finally settle into a 

 creed which is regarded as having oracular and dogmatic supremacy. 

 The formula " Thus saith the Master " closes discussion. Not the 

 fact itself, but what this or that teacher has said about the fact, comes 

 at last to be the all-important question. In the condition of mind 

 thus engendered there is no chance for intellectual freedom, self- 

 reliance, growth. Lewes related an anecdote of a mediaeval student 

 " who, having detected spots in the sun, communicated his discov- 



