In their respective writings, both philosophers Plato and...

In their respective writings, both philosophers Plato and Francis Bacon try to answer the straightforward, yet trying question of how one truly knows what they claim to know. Plato, equipped with his writing, Allegory of the Cave, takes a strike at this question using a dialogue structured text to give his position on the subject. On the other hand, Bacon takes a different approach as he constructs a list of four false images of the mind, which he labels as idols, and believes to be the answer to this topic. While engaging in different approaches, both philosophers are successful in answering the question at hand, as well as fundamental issue they approach in their logical thinking, while also coming to agreement on some of these issues.†¦show more content†¦Furthermore, Bacon defines an idol as an image held in the mind which receives praise from disillusioned people but is without substance in itself. Within these four idols, each one has its own fundamental issue that one has to deal with. The first, Idol of the Tribe, is focused with the matter of deceptive beliefs and people’s following of their preconceived ideas about things. He states that within this idol, â€Å"Men become attached to certain particular sciences and speculations, either because they fancy themselves the authors and inventors thereof, or because they have bestowed the greatest pains upon them and become most habituated to them.† (Bacon 887). Another issue Bacon comes to is with the Idol of the Cave. This idol states that re those which arise within the mind of the individual Both Plato and Bacon’s reasoning for how we know what we know both have areas where both philosophical thinkers share similar ideas. One example in which they both come to agreement is with the issue of people struggling to acknowledge that their previous notions are invalid. In Plato’s allegory of the Cave he states â€Å"And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take refuge in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality