Four Idols of Baconian Scholarship

This paper offers a brief survey of the common and persistent ‘idols’ of Baconian scholarship, i.e. the persistent prejudices which have shaped both the field of Baconian studies and the larger domain of early modern philosophy and early modern science. I especially address the issue of their persistence despite repeated refutations and I claim that they can give us an interesting overview of the signposts and strong presuppositions which have survived throughout the changing tides of recent historiography of science.