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Thomas Reid

Thomas Reid Biography

Philosopher

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“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.”

PhilosophyCommon Sense
Book:Essays In The Intellectual Powers Of Man: To Which Is Annexed An Analysis Of Aristotle Logic
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“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.”

Common SenseScepticism
Book:An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense: A Critical Edition
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“We find sects and parties in most branches of science; and disputes which are carried on from age to age, without being brought to an issue. Sophistry has been more effectually excluded from mathematics and natural philosophy than from other sciences. In mathematics it had no place from the beginning; mathematicians having had the wisdom to define accurately the terms they use, and to lay down, as axioms, the first principles on which their reasoning is grounded. Accordingly, we find no parties among mathematicians, and hardly any disputes.”

FirstsHas BeensPhilosophyUseAgeTermNaturalPartyPrinciplesIssuesMathematicsLaysReasoningBranchesMathematicianGroundedDisputesSectsAxiomsExcludedSophistryNatural Philosophy
Author:Thomas Reid
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“Every man feels that perception gives him an invincible belief of the existence of that which he perceives; and that this belief is not the effect of reasoning, but the immediate consequence of perception. When philosophers have wearied themselves and their readers with their speculations upon this subject, they can neither strengthen this belief, nor weaken it; nor can they shew how it is produced. It puts the philosopher and the peasant upon a level; and neither of them can give any other reason for believing his senses, than that he finds it impossible for him to do otherwise.”

MenGivingFeelsBelieveReasonBeliefLevelsExistenceImpossibleSubjectsEffectsReaderPerceptionConsequencePhilosopherEvery ManSensesPerceiveReasoningSpeculationPeasantsInvincible
Book:The Works of Thomas Reid, D. D.: Now Fully Collected, with Selections from His Unpublished Letters
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“The wisdom of God exceeds that of the wisest man, more than his wisdom exceeds that of a child. If a child were to conjecture how an army is to be formed in the day of battle--how a city is to be fortified, or a state governed--what chance has he to guess right? As little chance has the wisest man when he pretends to conjecture how the planets move in their courses, how the sea ebbs and flows, and how our minds act upon our bodies.”

IfsMenMindChildrenLittlesStatesBodyMovingCoursesChanceCitiesSeaPlanetsBattleFlowArmyExceedWisestConjectureEbb And FlowWisest Man
Book:Philosophical works
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“It is natural to men to judge of things less known, by some similitude they observe, or think they observe, between them and things more familiar or better known. In many cases, we have no better way of judging. And, where the things compared have really a great similitude in their nature, when there is reason to think that they are subject to the same laws, there may be a considerable degree of probability in conclusions drawn from analogy.”

ThinkingMenWayMayReasonLawNaturalKnownCasesSubjectsJudgingDegreesFamiliarConclusionProbabilityBetter WaysAnalogies
Book:Philosophical works
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“When we contemplate the world of Epicurus, and conceive the universe to be a fortuitous jumble of atoms, there is nothing grand in this idea. The clashing of atoms by blind chance has nothing in it fit to raise our conceptions, or to elevate the mind. But the regular structure of a vast system of beings, produced by creating power, and governed by the best laws which perfect wisdom and goodness could contrive, is a spectacle which elevates the understanding, and fills the soul with devout admiration.”

WorldMindIdeasSoulLawUniverseUnderstandingChancePerfectFitGoodnessCreatingRaisesBlindStructureAdmirationConceptionAtomsContemplatingFortuitous
Book:Philosophical works
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“[I]f a man bred to the seafaring life, and accustomed to think and talk only of matters relating to navigation, enters into discourse upon any other subject; it is well known, that the language and the notions proper to his own profession are infused into every subject, and all things are measured by the rules of navigation: and if he should take it into his head to philosophize concerning the faculties of the mind, it cannot be doubted, but he would draw his notions from the fabric of the ship, and would find in the mind, sails, masts, rudder, and compass.”

IfsThinkingMenShouldMindWellsMatterLanguageKnownSubjectsDrawsAll ThingsNotionProfessionShipsFacultyFabricSailDiscourseWell KnownAccustomedCompassDoubtedNavigationRuddersMasts
Author:Thomas Reid
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“It appears evident, therefore, that those actions only can truly be called virtuous, and deserving of moral approbation, which the agent believed to be right, and to which he was influenced, more or less, by that belief.”

ActionBeliefMoralPsychologyEthicsAgentsVirtuousEvidentDeserving
Book:Essays on the powers of the human mind: An essay on quantity. An analysis of Aristotl's logic
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