20 NOVUM ORQANUM 



to which (for distinction s sake) we have assigned names, 

 calling the first Idols of the Tribe, the second Idols of the 

 Den, the third Idols of the Market, the fourth Idols of the 

 Theatre. 



XL. The formation of notions and axioms on the foun 

 dation of true induction is the only fitting remedy by which 

 we can ward off and expel these idols. It is, however, of 

 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. 9 



XLI. 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 contrary, all 

 the perceptions both of the senses and the mind bear refer 

 ence to man and not to the universe, and the human mind 

 resembles those uneven mirrors which impart their own 



fore which the mind bows down. If Hallam be right, Bacon is saved from the 

 odium of an analogy which his foreign commentators are not far wrong in de 

 nouncing as barbarous; but this service is rendered at the expense of the men 

 who have attached an opposite meaning to the word, among whom are Brown, 

 Playfair and Dugald Stewart. Ed. 



9 We cannot see how these idols have less to do witli sophistical paralogisms 

 than with natural philosophy. The process of scientific induction involves only 

 the first elements of reasoning, and presents such a clear and tangible surface, 

 as to allow no lurking-place for prejudice; while questions of politics and 

 morals, to which the deductive method, or common logic, as Bacon calls it, is 

 peculiarly applicable, are ever liable to be swayed or perverted by the preju 

 dices he enumerates. After mathematics, physical science is the least amenable 

 to the illusions of feeling; each portion having been already tested by experi 

 ment and observation, is fitted into its place in the system, with all the rigor 

 of the geometrical method; affection or prejudice cannot, as in matters of taste, 

 history or religion, select fragmentary pieces, and form a system of their own. 

 The whole must be admitted, or the structure of authoritative reason razed to 

 the ground. It is needless to say that the idols enumerated present only 

 another interpretation of the substance of logical fallacies. -Ed. 



