Essay 2

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Fariha Newaz
A20429553
Essay 2
Idols of the Tribe 
The “idols of the tribe” is a concept that was introduced by philosopher Francis Bacon. He used this concept and some others to explain how humans handle evidence. Essentially he thinks that the preconceptions that people hold prevent the truth from entering their mind. There is truth to what he is saying since everyone has inherent bias and prior knowledge that distorts new information upon first contact. The mind’s tendency to preconceive and formulate initial opinions is the way people make decisions in their lives. However, it does negatively impact us as well since it leads us astray in the sciences and in our ordinary lives in a negative manner.
The psychology that Bacon proposed on how humans handle new evidence is that once they receive this information, the mind instantly changes the meaning. His philosophy can be best described as “faulty cognition” (Matthews 46) since he believes that the nature of human understanding is to always distort new information which in turn causes the new information to be tainted in a way that it is not in its intended/true form in the person’s mind. He also expressed that the understanding and implantation has more to do with the individual than the state of fact, “…all perceptions as well of the sense as of the mind are according to the measure of the individual and not according to the measure of the universe,” (Matthews 49). For example, initially everyone thought that the Earth was at the center of the universe and any time the notion was challenged, there was back lash. Ptolemy, for example, took the points made by non-centric Earth believers and gave counter points that came from information that he had interpreted as one way and couldn’t see the other side of their arguments. He wasn’t alone in this since most philosophers at this time didn’t accept the notion that the Earth wasn’t at the center. The new evidence was already distorted in the minds of the philosophers due to their own already preconceived ideas on this topic. An example that Bacon gave on his philosophy was in regards to the human brain creating more order and simplicity than things really are. In his eyes, the idea of uniform circular motion was more for the convenience of trying to give a simple explanation to how the universe works. The human brain cannot comprehend an idea that entails more problems than solutions so they take the information present and alter in the mind in a way where it would make sense. 
There is truth to Bacon’s philosophy since everyone interprets information they receive differently. Some people take more time than others understand something new and then once they do, there is no telling that their understanding of the concept stayed true to the original meaning. Intake of new knowledge is also greatly affected by bias and inherent perceptions on certain topics. The inability to take in new evidence without distortion can lead us astray in both the sciences and in our day to day lives. A current example of this would be the anti-vaccination movement. A research paper was published a couple of years in a medical journal and the paper concluded that vaccinations could lead children to get autism. After this report, many new parents decided not to vaccinate their kids. However soon after this paper, many other papers were published negating the claim and eventually it was found that the whole paper was invalid due to the information in the paper being fabricated. Despite the fact that the paper was debunked, the movement has only grown stronger because these people refuse to accept the new information because they believe that the first science is true. Bacon wrote, “…the human understanding is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it,” (Matthews 49) and what he is saying here is clearly emulated in the anti-vax issue. Since it is in their head that vaccines may lead to autism in their children, when anti-vax parents are advised to vaccinate their kids they refuse to do so because the new information they are receiving is being distorted in their mind by the worry that had been planted into their minds from the false paper. This faulty cognition has led many astray from what was once known to be a common sense fact, vaccination is important the health of child and those around them. There isn’t an exact remedy to the solution since humans are a creature of habit and this tendency of the brain is flaw by nature. However, it seems that the root of the issue is with preconceived notion and inherent bias. If one is to take on all new information with an open mind, then maybe there can be more room for advancement in thought and improvement in life. 
The human nature is to take any new evidence or information and try to make sense of it through the lens of their own opinions and knowledge. This, according to Bacon, is the reason why the human mind is prevented from receiving the truth. There are issues in the world that are happening right now that emulate what Bacon stated, and it is hindering the world from taking steps towards advancement. To put his words into the simplest of terms, the brain is simple minded and stubborn. It tries to make sense of new information by trying to simplify it and make it make sense with thoughts and knowledge it already held which is a flaw in human nature itself. It is a flaw that can be kept at bay with an open mind but not one that can be fully remedied.