Of the four, this is what I understand thus far:
1. Idols of the Tribe:
People are biased to jump to new conclusions that are interesting rather than what is true. New things tend to excite people and pique their interest, because old things (while they may be true) are simply old, ergo they bore people. This form of idolatry blinds people from learning the truth, and what may ultimately aid their existence. In addition to just accepting something simply because it is new, Bacon claims that people just don't want to invest the time in seeking and understanding the truth. Generally speaking, people tend to find said process frustrating because it is not always fruitful, and if it is, it is not always timely.
2. Idols of the Cave:
People understand life through what they are taught. If their spectrum of learning is limited to the biases of their teachers, those limitations disguise all that life is. Every person has opinions through which they understand. These opinions inevitably influence what other people learn from them. Bacon claimed that without broadening the spectrum of opinions, people would be practicing a form of idolatry by believing in mere opinions as opposed to facts. This is where the idea of the cave ties in. Visually, by being in a cave, a person would see only one view of the world, for there is only one opening.
3. Idols of the Marketplace
Bacon thought that a form of idolatry is found in language and its ability to lock people into specific ways of knowing. For example, some use philosophy as a tool to win arguments instead of using it as a way to reveal truths. People can become so focused on an act itself that they blind themselves of the products or effects of that act. I think the term "marketplace" refers to the idea of exchanging (in Bacon's use, the exchange of knowledge). If people focus on an act to excess, they lose sight of the exchange of ideas associated with said act.
4. Idols of the Theatre
A form of idolatry, according to Bacon, can be found in the filtered arts. People with power can control what the common people experience. For this reason, Bacon claimed that the Church practiced idolatry in that it would only give reference to a few Greek scholars and completely ignore other understandings of the world. Without any diversity, ultimate knowledge cannot be obtained. By limiting knowledge, the Church only believed in a few ways of understanding the world and ensured that the majority of early Western civilization did too.
if there is more to be added (which I'm sure there is) please help me understand!
