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Friday, October 22, 2021

Thomas Reid and epistemology

Thomas Reid (1710-1796) was a Scottish philosopher best known for his contributions to Scottish Enlightenment. Wikipedia says,

 

"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 ideas in the mind, and George Berkeley, who asserted that the external world is merely ideas in the mind." (Wikipedia: Thomas Reid, 6.28.23 UTC 10:42)

 

The rest of this post is some quotes from Reid.

 

Epistemology

 

"There is no greater impediment to the advancement of knowledge than the ambiguity of words." (AZQuotes.com)

 

"In every chain of reasoning, the evidence of the last conclusion can be no greater than the weakest link of the chain, whatever may be the strength of the rest." (AZQuotes.com)

 

"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." (AZQuotes.com)