One of the
examples of
false notions and
beliefs used by
Francis Bacon in
Novum Organum.
The basic idea is that
mankind falsely assumes that
human sense is the
measure of all things. This
mistake has been made by many
philosophers.
Protagoras is probably the one most remembered for it.
Bacon said that all things are measured by the individual and not the measure of the universe. He also characterized human nature as "... a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it."