Francis Bacon was one of the first to describe typical thinking errors in reasoning solving scientific problems. The possibility of technological breakthroughs was encouraged by the ways of thinking generated by the scientific revolution. Even intelligent and enlightened people encounter many obstacles on the path of knowledge.
The first kind is usually called the idols of the tribe, which Bacon defines as the mistakes of people caused by the very nature of man. The philosopher emphasized that the purpose of studying nature is to gain power over it. The second one is the idol of the cave, which refers to the Platonic concept of the state. The idol of the marketplace describes the spread of human delusions through social interaction. At the same time,
Bacon emphasized the accumulation, constant selection, and testing of scientific ideas and the widest possible dissemination of these ideas, which is impossible without socialization. There is also a fourth group of idols called the idols of the theatre, which are the result of incorrect theories or philosophies and false laws of proof.