Essay Example about The Four Idols for Human Beings According to Francis Bacon

Many theories explain how humans understand various aspects of life. While some base their arguments on scientific functioning of the body, others rely on proposals by theorists. According to Francis Bacon, human understanding can be attributed to what he called the four idols of man. These idols represent the source of falsehood which human belief and affects their judgment. The idols include tribe, cave, marketplace, and theatre. All these aspects represent the reason behind the lie that humans are meant to believe. For the tribe, it relates to human nature while cave is the human being himself. Marketplace represents the lie as a result of human interaction and theatre is the falsehood represented by the various theories and laws guiding the actions of humans. From Bacon's point of view, all these are related to the different ideologies being what human believe and their interactions with each other.

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An illustration of how these idols come into play is how human beings believe various aspects of life. One of those aspects is the belief that the world is deteriorating. Many of the older generations have this belief. The older people hold this belief based on some of their interactions with the younger generation and see how the younger generation acts differently from the old. The older generation also believes that some of the actions that the younger generation engages in are a sign the world is deteriorating. This notion stems from the marketplace point of view. From the cave point of view, changes in the environment make the younger generation change which from an older person point of view is deteriorating.

In contrast to the notion of old people that the world is deteriorating, the younger generating feel that they are being held back by, the older generation. Many of the younger generations are of the opinion that much of the ways or practices of the older generation are still preventing them from the present world norms and practices. In today's society, the upcoming generation sees many of what was done before by the older generation as being a thing of the past. Individuals who still perform such practices are seen dragging the new generation behind.

Another illustration of the way humans think is about how people think of feminism. Most women are of the view that men oppress them in many aspects of life such as equal employment opportunities and political views. A much different approach from the men's perspective is that many women take advantage of and use feminism as an excuse to pass their various agendas. The contrasting viewpoints have been brought about by the interaction of men and women throughout the years as well as the nature of human beings.

The idols explained by Bacon can be interpreted from a religious viewpoint. Many who follow religion are of the belief that God created the world. The idol of theatre guides the individuals who believe in God creating the world. In contrary to the creation beliefs there are also others who support the scientific reasoning behind the existence of man and how the world is today. All the two groups of individuals think according to the idol of theatre. Their ways of thinking are guided by theories that explain different ideas of the earth's creation.

In summary, Francis Bacon The Four Idols examines the different kinds of deceptions that characterize most humans. Due to these deceptions, human thought in various ways depending on the matter in question. Part of the deceptions includes some aspect of religious beliefs. Human should identify the different deceptions and learn to think in the right way.