B004R9Q09U EBOK by Wright Alex

Author:Wright, Alex [Wright, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

• Idols of the Cave. The problem of subjectivity. Each of us inhabits “a cave or den of his own, which refracts and discolors the light of nature.” Our personal biases will always taint our perceptions. We might today say that the chemist sees chemistry in all things; the student of literature looks for narratives; the computer programmer looks for operable rules. Relying on our individual faculties alone can only lead us to imperfect, idiosyncratic versions of reality.

• Idols of the Tribe. The problem of human limitations. These are the inborn perceptual constraints of our human “tribe.” He wrote, “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.” We cannot, for example, perceive the full spectrum of colors and sounds; but through the careful application of logical reasoning we can begin to compensate for our sensory limitations.

• Idols of the Marketplace. The problem of socially constructed meaning. Our understanding will always be warped by the vagaries of human language. “It is by discourse that men associate, and words are imposed according to the apprehension of the vulgar. And therefore the ill and unfit choice of words wonderfully obstructs the understanding.” Words are imperfect vessels, pale approximations of direct experience.

• Idols of the Theater. The problem of belief. Mythologies, religious stories, or ideological convictions present enormous obstacles to understanding, like “so many stage plays, representing worlds of their own creation after an unreal and scenic fashion.” Only by renouncing received wisdom and superstitious beliefs, and refusing to take anything on faith, can we cultivate any hope of seeing things as they are.

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