To Bacon’s mind, all error could be chalked up to just four problems, which he called (rather charmingly, to English speakers) offendicula: impediments or obstacles to truth. One of those obstacles was a kind of thirteenth-century version of Modern Jackass: the tendency to cover up one’s own ignorance with the pretense of knowledge. Another was the persuasive power of authority. A third was blind adherence to custom, and the last was the influence of popular opinion.
