History of Psychology Course

Paul F. Ballantyne, Ph.D.
pballan@comnet.ca

Francis Bacon in his appeal to nature as a new source for authority distinguished between idols of the Tribe (which have to do with the limitations of all human knowing -we never have absolute or static knowledge); idols of Cave (which have to do with the individual limitations, educational experience, and loyalties of given investigators); idols of the Marketplace (which have to do with the limitations of current language or terms used in scientific discourse); and idols of the Theater (which have to do with conceptual limitations set up by a priori systems of thought).

Bacon, (1620). In E.A. Burtt (Ed.). (1939). The English Philosophers From Bacon To Mill. New York: Random House.

Posted: [June, 2003]