Four very significant stumbling-blocks in the way of grasping the truth, which hinder every man however learned, and scarcely allow anyone to win a clear title to wisdom, namely:
- the example of weak and unworthy authority;
- longstanding custom;
- the feeling of the ignorant crowd; and
- the hiding of our own ignorance while making a display of our apparent knowledge.
Roger Bacon (1214 – 1292) also known by the scholastic accolade Doctor Mirabilis, was an English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empiricism. Wikipedia
