123 School Work

Idols of Society

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  There exist different ways of obtaining knowledge, the most effective being through language, perception, reason, and emotion. Man gathers, interprets, and learns from his surroundings through different ways of knowing. Francis Bacon in his book, Novum Organum, discusses four "Idols of the Mind": Idols of the Tribe, Idols of the Cave, Idols of the Market, and Idols of the Theater. These Idols present the false notions humanity creates about the way the world appears to man and serve as tools to help him discern problems that exist with his perceptions. By eliminating these Idols, man frees himself from their binds', which enables him to know the truth about the world, rather than the what the Idols instill. In Camus's The Stranger, Meursault, who kills a man for no apparent reason, rejects the Idols in the aftermath of his crime. However, Rasklnikov in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, possesses the Idols after his murder of an old woman, making him bound to false perceptions of society. Bacon's philosophy presents itself in these characters' ways of living after the outcome of their actions. The four Idols of the Mind, presented in The Stranger and Crime and Punishment, serve as motors to illustrate that the abolishment of the idols creates freedom from the false perceptions, which cause society's misinterpretation of the world.
       The Idols of the Tribe, which exist in human nature, originate from the senses, ideas, or experiences man undergoes...