Early Life Birth Childhood January 22 1561 York House off the Strand London the younger of the two sons of the lord keeper Sir Nicholas Bacon by his second marriage Nicholas Bacon rose to become the lord keeper of the great seal Education and career Trinity College Member of the English Ambassador s Suite Recalled abruptly after sudden death of father Left him little money Francis Bacon remained financially embarrassed virtually until his death Invention What When Where How Why metaphor of idol to refer to such causes of human error The idols of the tribe certain intellectual faults that are universal to mankind or at any rate very common The idols of the cave are the intellectual peculiarities of individuals One person may concentrate on the likenesses another on the differences between things One may fasten on detail another on the totality The idols of the marketplace are the errors which language is responsible for Always was a distinguishing feature of English philosophy to put emphasis on the unreliable nature of language which is viewed as a human improvisation The idols of the theatre that is to say mistaken systems of philosophy in the broadest Baconian sense of the term in which it embraces all beliefs of any degree of generality Bacon s critical polemic in discussing the idols of the theatre is lively but not very penetrating philosophically
