Are the four Baconian idols still alive in demography?

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the four Idols that beset human minds according to Francis\rBacon’s Novum Organum (1620). These are: Idols of the Tribe – false assertions\rresulting from the belief that «the sense of man is the measure of things»; Idols of\rthe Cave – peculiar to the individual people; Idols of the Market Place – resulting\rfrom «the intercourse and association of men with each other», and Idols of the\rTheatre – stemming from «dogmas of philosophies and… wrong laws of demonstration\r». We aim to see if these Idols are still alive in contemporary population\rsciences, and look at several examples from the fringes of demography – behaviour\rgenetics, postmodern theory, hereditarianism, and modern hermeneutics. The ana-lysis of these examples strongly suggests that demography needs to remain faithful\rto the scientific method whilst looking for new insights and inspirations.