Thomas Reid: Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

The Edinburgh Edition of Thomas Reid

by Thomas Reid (Editor), Derek R. Brookes

Thomas Reid (1710 1796) is increasingly seen as a philosopher of lasting importance and as a central figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. Intellectual Powers is his greatest work. It covers far more philosophical ground than the earlier, more popular Inquiry. Intellectual Powers and its companion volume, Essays on the Active Powers of Man, constitute the fullest, most original presentation of the philosophy of Common Sense. In this work Reid provides acutely critical discussions of an impressive array of thinkers but especially of David Hume. In Reid's view, Hume had driven a deep tendency in modern philosophy to its ultimate conclusion by creating a phantom-world of "ideas" that spring from objects of observation. On this account, the self is a conglomeration of perceived ideas; the will, as the source of action, is nothing but the balance of passionate impulses.

Reid's Common Sense philosophy responds to these problems by suggesting that skeptics such as Hume unavoidably affirm what they purport to deny namely, the existence of a stable external world, of other minds, of the continuity of their own minds, and of their own and other people's ability to ascribe and accept responsibility for actions. We can understand all of these things by proper empirical observation and philosophical analysis of the activity of the mind. Reid's major positive contribution to philosophy is a detailed account of the various innate powers of the mind. This is the only properly established text. It is accompanied by Reid's manuscript lectures on the nature and immortality of the soul as well as helpful editorial annotations and an introduction, making it useful to a wide variety of readers.

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Genres: Philosophy

668 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 1969

About the author

The Reverend Thomas Reid FRSE, a religiously trained Scottish philosopher and a contemporary of David Hume, was the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense and played an integral role in the Scottish Enlightenment. The early part of his life was spent in Aberdeen, Scotland, where he created the 'Wise Club' (a literary-philosophical association) and graduated from the University of Aberdeen. He was given a professorship at King's College, Aberdeen in 1752, where he wrote An Inquiry Into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense (published in 1764). Shortly afterwards he was given the prestigious Professorship of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow when he was called to replace Adam Smith. He resigned from this position in 1781.

Reid believed that common sense (in a special philosophical sense of sensus communis) is, or at least should be, at the foundation of all philosophical inquiry. He disagreed with Hume, who asserted that we can never know what an external world consists of as our knowledge is limited to the ideas in the mind, and George Berkeley, who asserted that the external world is merely ideas in the mind. By contrast, Reid claimed that the foundations upon which our sensus communis are built justify our belief that there is an external world.

Reviews

[izabella · Rating 1 out of 5]

bro i fucking hated this fucking book. DO NOT READ IT. he literally slags off every philosopher whos ever lived and their fucking mothers whilst simultaneously contradicting himself in every idea he proposes and giving no solid notion of the things he slates further than common sense, whilst seeming bashing common sense in another meaning of the term at the same time. as a hume girly i do not like this man and if i see him on block it is on sight. god i hated having to read this for ten weeks and wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy. yo fuck this ho i would give it 0 stars if i could