Thomas Reid > Quotes

“Let scholastic sophisters entangle themselves in their own cobwebs; I am resolved to take my own existence, and the existence of other things, upon trust; and to believe that snow is cold, and honey sweet, whatever they may say to the contrary. He must either be a fool, or want to make a fool of me, that would reason me out of my reason and senses.”
― Thomas Reid, Thomas Reid's Inquiry and Essays

“If there are certain principles, as I think there are, which the' constitution of our nature leads us to believe, and which we are under a necessity to take for granted in the common concerns of life,' without being able to give a reason for them; these are what we call the principles of common sense; and what is manifestly contrary to them, is what we call absurd.”
― Thomas Reid, Thomas Reid's Inquiry and Essays

“The chain is only as strong as its weakest link, for if that fails the chain fails and the object that it has been holding up falls to the ground.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

“I confess I know not what a sceptic can answer to this, nor by what good argument he can plead even for a hearing; for either his reasoning is sophistry, and so deserves contempt; or there is no truth in the human faculties, and then why should we reason?”
― Thomas Reid, Thomas Reid's Inquiry and Essays

“There is nothing so absurd which some philosophers have not maintained.”
― Thomas Reid, Preliminary Essay on the Intellectual Powers of Man

“In this unequal contest betwixt common sense and philosophy, the latter will always come off both with dishonour and loss; nor can she ever thrive till this rivalship is dropped, these encroachments given up, and a cordial friendship restored: for in reality common sense holds nothing of philosophy, nor needs her aid. But, on the other hand, philosophy (if I may be permitted to change the metaphor) has no other root but the principles of common sense; it grows out of them, and draws its nourishment from them: severed from this root, its honours wither, its sap is dried up, it dies and rots.”
― Thomas Reid, Thomas Reid's Inquiry and Essays

“In every chain of reasoning, the evidence of the last conclusion can be no greater than that of the weakest link of the chain, whatever may be the strength of the rest.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

“Philosophy has no other root but the principles of common sense.; it grows out from them, and draws its nourishment from them; severed from this root, its honours wither up, its sap is dried up, it dies and rots.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Active Powers of the Human Mind ; An Inquiry Into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense ; and An Essay on Quantity

“Nature hath given us us a particular emotion, to wit, that of ridicule, which seems intended for this very purpose of putting out of countenance what is absurd, either in opinion or practice. This weapon, when properly applied, cuts with as keen an edge as argument. Nature has furnished us with the first to expose absurdity; as with the last to refute error.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

“No man has ever been able to set out for us, distinctly and methodically, all the operations of the thinking principle within himself, but if some philosopher did achieve this feat, this would reveal only the anatomy of one particular subject , and if applied to human nature on general it would be both incomplete and wrong. For you don't have to think very hard to realize that the differences among human minds are greater than the differences among any other beings that we regard as belonging to the same species.”
― Thomas Reid, An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense: A Critical Edition

“Suppose a man be found dead on the highway, his skull fractured, his body pierced with deadly wounds, his watch and money carried off. The coroner's jury sits upon the body, and the question is put, what was the cause of this man's death...? Let us suppose an adept in Mr. Hume's philosophy to make one of the jury, and that he insists upon the previous question, whether there was any cause of the event, or whether it happened without a cause? Surely, upon Mr. Hume's principles, a great deal might be said upon this point...But we may venture to say, that, if Mr. Hume had been of such a jury, he would have laid aside his philosophical principles, and acted according to the dictates of common prudence.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, Vol. 1

“Those who reject some principle of common sense in speculation, find themselves under necessity of being governed by it in their practice. A skeptic may struggle hard to disbelieve the information of his senses, as a man does to swim against the torrent; but ah! it is in vain...For after all, when his strength is spent in the fruitless attempt, he will be carried down the torrent with the common herd of believers.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Active Powers of the Human Mind ; An Inquiry Into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense ; and An Essay on Quantity

“The sceptic asks me, Why do you believe the existence of the external object which you perceive? This belief, sir, is none of my manufacture; it came from the mint of Nature; it bears her image and superscription; and, if it is not right, the fault is not mine: I even took it upon trust, and without suspicion. Reason, says the sceptic, is the only judge of truth, and you ought to throw off every opinion and every belief that is not grounded on reason. Why, sir, should I believe the faculty of reason more than that of perception?—they came both out of the same shop, and were made by the same artist; and if he puts one piece of false ware into my hands, what should hinder him from putting another?”
― Thomas Reid, An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense: A Critical Edition

“Thus we see, that Descartes and Locke take the road that leads to scepticism, without knowing the end of it; but they stop short for want of light to carry them farther. Berkeley, frightened at the appearance of the dreadful abyss, starts aside, and avoids it. But the author of the Treatise of human nature, more daring and intrepid, without turning aside to the right hand or to the left, like Virgil’s Alecto, shoots directly into the gulf.”
― Thomas Reid, Inquiry and Essays

“If any man...should demand a proof that he is the same person to-day as he was yesterday, or a year ago, I know no proof can be given him: He must be left to himself, either as a man that is a lunatic, or as one who denies first principles, and is not to be reasoned with. Every man of sound mind, finds himself under the necessity of believing his own identity, and continued existence. The conviction of this is immediate and irresistible, and if he should lose this conviction, it would be a certain proof of insanity, which is not to be remedied by reasoning.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

“The chain is only as strong as its weakest
link, for if that fails the chain fails and the object that it has been holding up falls to the ground.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

“Thus we see, that Descartes and Locke take the road that leads to scepticism, without
knowing the end of it; but they stop short for want of light to carry them farther. Berkeley, frightened at the appearance of the dreadful abyss, starts aside, and avoids it. But the author of the Treatise of human nature, more daring and intrepid, without turning aside to the right hand or to the left, like Virgil’s Alecto, shoots directly into the gulf.”
― Thomas Reid, Inquiry and Essays

“No man thinks of asking himself what reason he has to believe that his neighbor is a living creature. He would be not a little surprised if another person should ask him so absurd a question: arid perhaps could not give any reason which would not equally prove a watch or a puppet to be a living creature. But, though you should satisfy him of the weakness of the reasons he gives for his belief, you cannot make him in the least doubtful. This belief stands upon another foundation than that of reasoning and therefore, whether a man can give good reasons for it or not, it is not in his power to shake it off.That many operations of the mind have their natural signs in the countenance, voice and gesture, I suppose every man will admit. . . . The only question is, whether we understand the signification of those signs, by the constitution of our nature, by a kind of natural perception similar to the perceptions of sense; or whether we gradually learn the signification of such signs from experience, as we learn that smoke is a sign of fire... It seems to me incredible, that the notions men have of the expressions of features, voice, and gesture, are entirely the fruit of experience.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Active Powers of Man

“For my own satisfaction, I entered into a serious examination of the principles upon which this sceptical system is built; and was not a little surprised to find, that it leans with its whole weight upon a hypothesis, which is ancient indeed, and hath been very generally received by philosophers, but of which I could find no solid proof. The hypothesis I mean, is, That nothing is perceived but what is in the mind which perceives it: That we do not really perceive things that are external, but only certain images and pictures of them imprinted upon the mind, which are called impressions and ideas.”
― Thomas Reid, The Philosophy of Reid As Contained in the "Inquiry Into the Human Mind On the Principles of Common Sense"

“But the general principle-that every distinction which is found in the structure of common language, is a real distinction, and is perceivable by the common sense of mankind-this I hold for certain, and have made frequent use of it. I wish it were more used than it has been, for I believe the whole system of metaphysics, or the far greater part, may be brought out of it; and, next to accurate reflection upon the operations of our own minds. I know nothing that can give so much light to the human faculties as a due consideration of the structure of language.”
― Thomas Reid, The Correspondence of Thomas Reid

“We cannot give a reason why we believe even our sensations to be real and not fallacious; why we believe what we are conscious of; why we trust any of our natural faculties. We say, it must be so, it cannot be otherwise. This expresses only a strong belief, which is indeed the voice of nature, and which therefore in vain we attempt to resist. But if, in spite of nature, we resolve to go deeper, and not to trust our faculties, without a reason to shew that they cannot be fallacious, I am afraid that, seeking to become wise, and to be as gods, we shall become foolish....”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

“There is a disposition in human nature to reduce things as few principles as possible; and this, without doubt, adds to the beauty of a system, if the principles are able to support what rests upon them. The mathematicians glory, very justly, in having raised so noble and magnificent a system of science, upon the foundation of a few axioms and definitions. This love of simplicity, and of reducing things to few principles, hath produced many a false system; but there never was any system in which it appears so remarkably as that of Des Cartes. His whole system concerning matter and spirit is built upon one axiom, expressed in one word, cogito. Upon the foundation of conscious thought, with ideas for his materials, he builds his system of the human understanding, and attempts to account for all its phenomena: and having, as he imagined, from his consciousness, proved the existence of matter; upon the existence of matter, and of a certain quantity of motion originally impressed upon it, he builds his system of the material world, and attempts to account for all its phenomena.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on The Active Powers of the Human Mind an Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principle of Common Sense

“But it is to be observed, that the voluntary actions of man can in no case be called natural phenomena, or be considered as regulated by the physical laws of Nature. Our voluntary actions are subjected to moral, but not to physical laws. The moral as well as the physical laws of Nature are enacted by the great Author of Nature, but they are essentially different. The physical laws of nature are the rules by which the Deity himself acts in his government of the world, and, therefore they are never transgressed. Moral laws are the laws which as the supreme Lawgiver he prescribes to his reasonable creatures for their conduct, which, indeed ought always to be obeyed, but in fact are often transgressed...”
― Thomas Reid

“When we come to be instructed by Philosophers, we must bring the old light of common sense along with us, and by it judge of the new light which the Philosopher communicates to us. But when we are required to put out the old light altogether, that we may follow the new, we have reason to be on our guard.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays In The Intellectual Powers Of Man: To Which Is Annexed An Analysis Of Aristotle Logic

“These shadows or images, which we immediately perceive, were by the ancients called species, forms, phantasms. Since the time of Descartes, they have commonly been called ideas, and by Mr. Hume impressions. But all philosophers, from Plato to Mr. Hume, agree in this, That we do not perceive external objects immediately, and that the immediate object of perception must be some image present in the mind. So far there appears an unanimity rarely to be found among Philosophers on such abstruse points.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

“And a man who perfectly understood a just
syllogism, without believing that the conclusion follows from the premises, would be a greater monster than a man born without hands or feet.”
― Thomas Reid

“Every man feels that he must believe what he distinctly remembers, though he can give no other reason of his belief, but that he remembers the thing distinctly.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

“Every kind of reasoning for the veracity of our faculties, amounts to no more than taking their own testimony for their veracity...the reason why Descartes satisfied himself with so weak an argument for the truth of his faculties, most probably was, that he never seriously doubted it.”
― Thomas Reid, Essays On the Intellectual Powers of Man

“All the arguments urged by Berkeley and Hume against the existence of a material world, are grounded on this principle, That we do not perceive external objects themselves, but certain images or ideas in our own minds”
― Thomas Reid, Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

“I [the sceptic] resolve not to believe my senses. I break my nose against a post that comes in my way; I step into a dirty kennel: and after twenty such wise and rational actions, I am taken up and clapped into a mad-house. Now, I confess I would rather make one of those credulous fools whom Nature imposes upon, than one of those wise and rational philosphers who resolve to withold assent at all this expense. If a man pretends to be a sceptic with regard to the information of sense, and yet prudently keep's out of harms way as other men do, he must excuse my suspicion that he either acts as a hypocrite, or imposes on himself.”
― Thomas Reid, An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense: A Critical Edition