ORIGINS OF MODERNITY

philosophy

Reid, Thomas (1710-1796)
Essays on the intellectual powers of man.
Edinburgh : Printed for John Bell, and G.J.J. & J. Robinson, London, 1785.

Thomas Reid (1710-96) was one of the founder of Scottish 'common sense' philosophy of the eighteenth century. He taught philosophy first at the University of Aberdeen and then succeeded Adam Smith in the chair of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University. Reid's philosophical agenda was set by Locke and Hume and in particular the sceptical consequences of their respective views of the objects of perception. Essays on the Intellectual Powers of man (1785) is a mature work comprising his lectures from the previous two decades at Glasgow. It contains discussions of the senses, the theory of perception, personal identity, morality and beauty. The influence of Locke and Hume is writ large on the work, as is Reid's deference to Newton.