Errors

The truth comes as conqueror only because we have lost the art of receiving it as guest. ---The Fourfold Way of India (1924)"Bias is something bad from an epistemological point of view, but what exactly is it and how is it distinct from other kinds of epistemological error?" — Nick Bostrom (2006).
Tfd.com lists bias as "2. a particular tendency or inclination, esp. one that prevents impartial consideration of a question; prejudice.
3. a systematic as opposed to a random distortion of a statistic as a result of sampling procedure."
E.g. there's snobbery, a biased belief and irrationality that something "has to be better" because it is associated with perceived higher culture. E.g. that someone has to be right rather than another just because the someone comes from a more noble school. Or that someone has to be more right in every case because that someone inherited a famous family name and fortune. There's northernist-bias, which is the biased belief, the irrationality that someone has to be more right in all cases simply because that someone is from the north. Southernist-bias is the biased belief, the irrationality that someone has to be more right in all cases simply because that someone is from the south.
We observe that man is an organism shaped by his errors and understandings. An error is a state of being stuck in a dualism, unable to see beyond the dichotomy. Progress, on the other hand, is a process of moving beyond the dichotomy.
We can look to the philosophical concept of dualism to understand the concept of errors and understandings. Dualism is the belief that two distinct and opposite entities exist, such as good and evil, or body and soul. In this context, errors are the idea of being stuck in this dualism, unable to see beyond the two distinct sides and instead believing that one is superior to the other. Understandings, then, are the opposite of errors, being the ability to move beyond the dichotomy and see that both entities are equal and necessary.
To illustrate this concept, we can look to the example of body and soul. Many believe that the soul is superior to the body, and that the body is merely a vessel for the soul. This is an example of an error, as it is stuck in the dualism of body and soul, unable to see beyond the dichotomy and understand that both are necessary and interconnected. On the other hand, those who understand the concept of body and soul are able to move beyond the dichotomy and see that both are necessary and interconnected.
This concept of errors and understandings can be applied to many aspects of life. For example, in the political realm, those who are stuck in a dualism of left and right may be unable to see beyond the dichotomy, believing that one is superior to the other. However, those who understand the concept of left and right are able to move beyond the dichotomy and see that both are necessary and interconnected.
Bacon listed what he called the idols (false images) of the mind. He described these as things which obstructed the path of correct scientific reasoning.
# Idols of the Tribe (Idola tribus): This is humans' tendency to perceive more order and regularity in systems than truly exists, and is due to people following their preconceived ideas about things.
# Idols of the Cave (Idola specus): This is due to individuals' personal weaknesses in reasoning due to particular personalities, likes and dislikes.
# Idols of the Marketplace (Idola fori): This is due to confusion in the use of language and taking some words in science to have a different meaning than their common usage.
# Idols of the Theatre (Idola theatri): This is the following of academic dogma and not asking questions about the world.
Less Wrong has a good collection of Errors, such as resulting from Cognitive Biases.