"The Idols of the Tribe have their foundation in human nature itself.... And the human understanding is like a false mirror, which receiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolours the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it..." -Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, 1620
Idols of the Tribe are mental characteristics common to all men such as the tendency to find order and regularity where it is lacking (as in the instance of the Greek who thought he saw a centaur), the proneness of men to allow their desire, pride, prejudice, hopes, and prepossessions to blind them to realities; and men's inclination to trust their five senses, despite their fallibility, without enlisting the help of experiments.
