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Idol
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Cycladic sculpture Francis Bacon
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Cycladic sculpture
Cycladic sculpture Marble Cycladic sculpture from Amorgós, Greece, 2500 bce; in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Idol

religion
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•History

Idol, literally an image (from the Greek eidolon), particularly an image used as an object of worship.

Francis Bacon
Francis BaconBritish statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon.

In philosophy, the word can mean a prejudice of some kind that hinders clear thought. It was used in this sense by Giordano Bruno and adopted from him by Sir Francis Bacon, who in a celebrated passage of his Novum Organum distinguished four kinds of idol, namely: (1) “idols of the tribe,” prejudices more or less common to the whole human race; (2) “idols of the cave,” prejudices peculiar to individuals; (3) “idols of the market place,” prejudices encouraged by one’s social group and mother tongue; and (4) “idols of the theatre,” prejudices or false notions taught and encouraged by various schools of thought.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray.