36 XOVUM ORGANUM. 



great service to point them out. For the doctrine of idols 

 bears the same relation to the interpretation of nature, as 

 that of the confutation of sophisms does to common logic. 



41. The idols of the tribe are inherent in human nature, 

 and the very tribe or race of man. For man s sense is 

 falsely asserted to be the standard of things. On the con 

 trary, all the perceptions, both of the senses and the mind, 

 bear reference to man, and not to the universe, and the 

 human mind resembles those uneven mirrors, which im 

 part their own properties to different objects, from which 

 rays are emitted, and distort and disfigure them. 



42. The idols of the den are those of each individual. 

 For every body (in addition to the errors common to the 

 race of man) has his own individual den or cavern, which 

 intercepts and corrupts the light of nature ; either from his 

 own peculiar and singular disposition, or from his edu 

 cation and intercourse with others, or from his reading, 

 and the authority acquired by those whom he reverences 

 and admires, or from the different impressions produced on 

 the mind, as it happens to be preoccupied and predisposed, 

 or equable and tranquil, and the like : so that the spirit of 

 man (according to its several dispositions) is variable, con 

 fused, and as it were actuated by chance ; and Heraclitus 

 said well that men search for knowledge in lesser worlds 

 and not in the greater or common a vvorld. 



43. There are also idols formed by the reciprocal inter 

 course and society of man with man, which we call idols of 

 the market, from the commerce and association of men with 

 each other. For men converse by means of language ; but 

 words are formed at the will of the generality ; and there 

 arises from a bad and unapt formation of words a won 

 derful obstruction to the mind. Nor can the definitions 

 and explanations, with which learned men are wont to 

 guard and protect themselves in some instances, afford a 

 complete remedy : words still manifestly force the under 

 standing, throw every thing into confusion, and lead man 

 kind into vain and innumerable controversies and fallacies. 



44. Lastly, there are idols which have crept into men s 

 minds from the various dogmas of peculiar systems of phi 

 losophy, and also from the perverted rules of demonstra 

 tion, and these we denominate idols of the theatre. For 

 we regard all the systems of philosophy hitherto received 

 or imagined, as so many plays brought out and performed, 

 creating fictitious and theatrical worlds. Nor do we speak 

 only of the present systems, or of the philosophy and sects 



