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Thomas Reid’s common sense philosophy of mind

Todd Buras

Philosophy of Mind in the Early Modern and Modern Ages July 6, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9780429508158-15 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Topics Philosophy of mind
Key points The text presents Reid's philosophy as a philosophy of mind whose aim was to construct "a just system of the mind" by enumerating the original powers and laws of human nature and explaining its phenomena, noting that the field was then called "pneumatology" and included the sciences depending on the philosophy of the mind.

Abstract

Thomas Reid’s philosophy is a philosophy of mind. The aim of his published works is to construct what he calls “a just system of the mind; that is, an enumeration of the original powers and laws of our constitution, and an explication from them of the various phenomena of human nature” (IHM I ii, 15). In Reid’s day, the “phenomena of human nature” to be explicated in the philosophy of mind were wide-ranging. “Pneumatology,” as the field was then known (EIP, 12), included “the Philosophy of the Mind and the Sciences that depend on it.” Reid was introduced to the subject in Aberdeen, where the subject was defined as follows:

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