Four Idols

Francis Bacon's Four Idols divide communication into four sections: Tribe, Den, Marketplace, and Theatre. Each section explicates the four common idols of culture that corrupt language. Bacon's Four Idols, in a way, serve as a warning as to what can become of language if one is not careful. The Four Idols are as follows:

A young Francis Bacon

(Photo courtesy of Fallschirmjäger via en.wikipedia.org)

Tribe

The idol of Tribe is characterized by cultural values. It consists of desires, pride, and prejudices that has been changed by the culture one is surrounded by. Tribe deals with the idea of one following the herd to the point of not thinking for oneself.

Corruption: Following the herd

Modern day example: The belief that being married is better than being single

Marketplace

The idol of marketplace deals with slang and misused words. This idol concerns the popular us of language over the proper use of language. Bacon focuses on grammar and the making up of words in particular, for both these fallacies lead to completely broken English and world where people replace proper meanings with their own inappropriate meanings.

Corruption: Misuse of words

Modern day example: The use of "should of" simply because it sounds like the correct phrase, "should have"

Den

The idol of Den is characterized by family. Den deals with one not experiencing the world outside one's family. Building off Plato's metaphor of the cave, wherein the one who escapes the cave knows the truth while the ones who stay in the cave have a blurred perception of reality, the idol of Den believes that in order to experience reality, one must leave the home, otherwise all knowledge is limited.

Corruption: Not leaving the comfort zone

Modern day example: Choosing to be afraid of public speaking and never speaking publicly rather than trying to learn how to speak publicly and getting over the fear

Theatre

The idol of theatre deals with fact vs. fiction. With theatre, Bacon expresses concern for the fallacy of believing that fiction is fact. Believing one's psychic or oracle (Smith) rather than reason is a fallacy for it allows us to believe sources with no credibility before we believe ourselves.

Corruption: Believing fiction is fact

Modern day example: People reading satirical news articles and believing them to be true, and spreading them as truth

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