Francis Bacon, in New Organon, lays out tenets of self reliance and new outlooks in science, and he criticizes the fallacious ways of thinking based on given systems of philosophy.
I. Man can do and understand so much only as he has observed in fact or in thought of the course of nature.
II. The sciences they had at the time were/are merely systems for nice ordering and setting forth things already invented
III. Logic that is in use serves to just fix what seems to be erroneous, therefore does more harm than good.
IV. Axioms and theories already established should not avail for the discovery of new works. Therefore each new discovery has its own argument.
V. “Idols” are false notions that hamper human understanding
VI. There are four sets of Idols:
a. Idols of the Tribe – the false assertion that the sense of men is the measure of things
b. Idols of the Cave – each man having his own cave which obfuscates the light the of nature
c. Idols of the Market – The interaction of men, and by this discourse words are imposed according to the apprehension of the vulgar
d. Idols of the Theatre – idols which have immigrated into men’s minds from the various dogmas of philosophies, and also from wrong laws of demonstration
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