It informs us across four centuries that we must understand nature both around us and within ourselves, in order to set humanity on the course of self-improvement. The English statesman and scholar Francis Bacon was one of the earliest thinkers to truly understand the nature of the mind and how humanity truly progresses in collective knowledge.
To Bacon, this was an unstable artifice on which to build our understanding of the world. Better that we start reasoning from first principles , building up our knowledge of the world through inductive reasoning. By reflecting on all possible methods of investigation available to his imagination, he concluded that the best among them is induction, which is the gathering of large numbers of facts and the detection of patterns.
In order to obtain maximum objectivity, we must entertain only a minimum of preconceptions. Bacon proclaimed a pyramid of disciplines, with natural history forming the base, physics above and subsuming it, and metaphysics at the peak, explaining everything below—though perhaps in powers and forms beyond the grasp of man.
In this way, Wilson crowns Bacon as the Father of Induction — the first to truly grasp the power of careful inductive reasoning to generate insights. Bacon broke down the old, rigid ways of classifying knowledge in favor of building a new understanding from the ground up, using experiments to prove or disprove a theory.
In this way, he realized much of what was being taught in his time, including metaphysics, alchemy, magic, astrology, and other disciplines, would eventually crumble under scrutiny.
A feeling we share about our current age. Over years before there was a Charlie Munger or a Daniel Kahneman , Bacon clearly understood the first-conclusion bias and the confirmation bias.
In his Novum Organum , Bacon described these errors, in the same manner we understand them today:. The mind, hastily and without choice, imbibes and treasures up the first notices of things, from whence all the rest proceed, errors must forever prevail, and remain uncorrected.
The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion either as being the received opinion or as being agreeable to itself draws all things else to support and agree with it. And though there be a greater number and weight of instances to be found on the other side, yet these it either neglects and despises, or else by some distinction sets aside and rejects, in order that by this great and pernicious predetermination the authority of its former conclusions may remain inviolate.
He called the wide variety of errors in mental processing the Idols of the Mind. The Idols of the Tribe made the false assumption that our most natural and basic sense of thing was the correct one. The Idols of the Tribe have their foundation in human nature itself, and in the tribe or race of men. The constant impact of words variously used without attention to their true meaning only in turn condition the understanding and breed fallacies.
Words often betray their own purpose, obscuring the very thoughts they are designed to express. Idols of the Theater are those which are due to sophistry and false learning. These idols are built up in the field of theology, philosophy, and science, and because they are defended by learned groups are accepted without question by the masses. When false philosophies have been cultivated and have attained a wide sphere of dominion in the world of the intellect they are no longer questioned.
False superstructures are raised on false foundations, and in the end systems barren of merit parade their grandeur on the stage of the world. A careful reading of the Novum Organum will show. Bacon used the theater with its curtain and its properties as a symbol of the world stage.
It might even be profitable to examine the Shakespearean plays with this viewpoint in mind. A fter summarizing the faults which distinguish the learning of his time, Bacon offered his solution. To him true knowledge was the knowledge of causes. He defined physics as the science of variable causes, and metaphysics as the science of fixed causes.
By this definition alone his position in the Platonic descent is clearly revealed. Had he chosen Aristotle as his mentor the definition would have been reversed.
It was Bacon's intention to gather into one monumental work his program for the renewal of the sciences. This he called Instauratio Magna the encyclopedia of all knowledge , but unfortunately the project was never completed. He left enough, however, so that other men could perfect the work. The philosophy of Francis Bacon reflects not only the genius of his own mind but the experiences which result from full and distinguished living.
The very diversity of his achievements contributed to the unity of his thinking. Extending from Ericsson 's ideas, I say that as the white lie is generated out of assumptions that are assumed to be true, the speaker of a white lie is essentially trying to play god in the life of another person.
True, the wanting of playing god, and having power, is not grounds for calling this type of lie selfish but it clearly defines it as self-interested.
Morality can exist in a world without God because of the objectivity of morals even through different time periods and cultures maintains, and genuinely good morality may easily come from non-religious motives. Certain immoral practices have been permissible in the past due to societal and cultural changes, but they are nonetheless still immoral.
Morality does not simply follow clear cut rules, and historically immoral actions have happened egregiously. Ultimately, utilitarianism is what governs morality. To continue to sustain all of humanity and to even further individual success, correct moral judgment is key moving forward. Actually, some of these arguments relate to the development and maintenance of sense of self as well as promoting human dignity, which can be accomplished without the right to lie.
The dangers of the right to lie on individuals and the society seemingly outweigh its benefits, which imply that lying should not be justified or excused. Truthfulness and honesty is a duty that must be considered as the basis of all duties, actions, and…. I can implement this into my career by being more open to the ideas of others. My goal is to develop this sense of perspective in my personal life and allow that improved awareness to permeate my professional….
If we take in bullshit and accept it as truth just because it satisfies our current set of beliefs then we will spout it to others and it will continue to spread. Bullshit in, bullshit out. If we do not reduce the amount of confirmation bias in our lives, then it will only lead to the pollution of our beliefs as a society and cause us to have an incredibly distorted view on the world.
It is something we do not enjoy doing, but we must expose ourselves to contradictory ideas just as readily as validating…. Stereotyping seems to overlap with prejudice but both have their different meanings.
Neutral attitudes can help overcome prejudice and stereotyping. Essays Essays FlashCards. Browse Essays. Sign in.
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