preview

Novum Organum: Descartes, Galileo, And Montaigne

Decent Essays

In Novum Organum, Francis Bacon warns against "Idols...which have immigrated into men 's minds from the various dogmas of philosophies and also from wrong laws of demonstration." He called these idols, Idols of the Theatre, in which he goes on to talk about how common errors in thinking keep people from arriving at the truth. Descartes, Galileo, and Montaigne are three historic figures whom have tried to fix these errors in thinking in their own writing. Descartes was a noble man and tried very hard to see things in a different light from everyone else. In doing this he came up with four methods for viewing ideas. His first method is to remain faithful to the laws and customs of his country and his religion. In doing this he first …show more content…

Something that really sticks out in this excerpt is what Montaigne says about topographers. "…we need topographers who would make detailed accounts of the places which they have actually been to." (Trials p.55) This is contradictory to what he is writing because he hasn 't visited the area of which he is writing. Nevertheless, in this writing he goes into great description of these natural people. Not only does he write about their actions as a whole, but as individual families and such things as weddings. Montaigne 's method for challenging Bacon is that of teaching the common people. These three men are all examples of ways that Bacons ideas could be challenged. Descartes is the best example of the three because he has come up with steps to better yourself through thought and self control. Galileo is an example of someone who actively goes against what Bacon 's Idol of the Theatre says. He took someone else 's knowledge and improved on it and used it to learn more. Last is Montaigne, who only slightly tries to fix the errors. He doesn 't go as far into it as the other two authors, but he does use a style that promotes learning. These Historic men are all great authors of their time and are proof that Bacon 's Idol of the Theatre can easily avoided through a little

Get Access