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Thomas Reid ( April 26, 1710 - October 7, 1796), 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. For the first part of his life, he lived in Aberdeen, where he created the "Wise Club" (a literal-philosophical association) and conceived the most part of his first work. In 1764 he was called to substitute Adam Smith at the University of Glasgow and published his "Inquiry".
Reid believed that common sense (in a special philosophical sense) is, or at least should be, at the foundation of all philosophical inquiry.
In his day and for some years into the 19th century, he was regarded as more important than David Hume. He advocated direct realismDirect realism is a theory of perception that claims that the senses provide us with direct awareness of the external world. In contrast, indirect realism and representationalism claim that we are directly aware only of internal representations of the ext, or common sense realism , and argued strongly against the Theory of Ideas advocated by John LockeJohn Locke ( August 29 1632 — October 28 1704) was a 17th century philosopher concerned primarily with society and epistemology. An Englishman, Locke's notions of a " government with the consent of the governed" and man's natural rights— life, liberty, an, René DescartesRene Descartes ( IPA: rne. dekt) ( March 31, 1596 February 11, 1650), also known as Cartesius worked as a philosopher and mathematician. While most notable for his groundbreaking work in philosophy, he has achieved wide fame as the inventor of the Cartesi, and (in varying forms) nearly all Early Modern philosophers who came after them. He had a great admiration for Hume, and asked him to correct the first manuscript of his (Reid's) "Inquiry"
His theory of knowledge had a strong influence on his theory of morals. He himself thought all the epistemologyEpistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge. Definition of knowledge Justified true belief Plato's Theaetetus''. defined knowledge as justified true belief. One implication of this definition is that was an introductory part to practical ethics: When we are confirmed in our common beliefs by philosophy, all we have to do is to act accordingly to them, because we know what is right.
His moral philosophy reminds also the Latin stoicismStoicism is a school of philosophy commonly associated with such Greek philosophers as Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes, or Chrysippus and with such later Romans as Cicero, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus. Organized at Athens in 310 BC by Zeno of Citium a (he often quotes CiceroFor other uses see Cicero (disambiguation Marcus Tullius Cicero ( January 3, 106 BC December 7, 43 BC) was an orator and statesman of Ancient Rome, and is generally considered the greatest Latin prose stylist. Biography Cicero was born in Arpinum and caug, from whom he takes the term "sensus communis", mediated by the Scolastica and St. Thomas AquinasSaint Thomas Aquinas ( 1225 March 7 1274) was a Catholic philosopher and theologian in the scholastic tradition, who gave birth to the thomistic school of philosophy, which was long the official dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. He is considered by the) and the Christian way of life.
His reputation waned after attacks on the Scottish School of Common Sense by Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant ( April 22, 1724 February 12, 1804) was a Prussian philosopher, generally regarded as the last major philosopher of the Enlightenment, having a major impact on the Romantic and Idealist philosophies of the 19th century, and as one of history and John Stuart Mill, but his was anyway the philosophy taught in the colleges of North America, during all the 19th century, and was championed by Victor Cousin, a French philosopher. His reputation has arisen again in the wake of the advocacy of common sense as a philosophical method or criterion by G. E. Moore early in the century, and more recently due to attention given Reid by contemporary philosophers such as William Alston and Alvin Plantinga.
He wrote a number of important philosophical works, including Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense (1764, Glasgow & London), the Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1785) and the Essays on the Active Powers of Man (1788).
