The Philosophy of Thomas Reid

475 Pages·1989·20.778 MB·English

by  Melvin T. Dalgarno, Eric H. Matthews (auth.), Melvin Dalgarno, Eric Matthews (eds.)

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THOMAS REID
PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES SERIES
Editors:
WTI...FRID SELLARS, University of Pittsburgh
KEITH LEHRER, University ofA rizona
Board of Consulting Editors:
JONATHAN BENNETI, Syracuse University
ALLAN GIBBARD, University of Michigan
ROBERT STALNAKER, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ROBERT G. TURNBULL, Ohio State University
VOLUME 42
THE PHILOSOPHY
OF THOMAS REID
Edited by
MELVIN DALGARNO
and
ERIC MATTHEWS
Department of Philosophy. University of Aberdeen
KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
DORDRECHT / BOSTON / LONDON
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
The Philosophy of ThoNas Reid! edited by Melvin Dalgarno and Eric
Matthews.
p. CN. -- (Philosophical studies series; v. 42)
Bibliography: p.
Inc 1u des 1n dex.
ISBN 0-7923-0190-0
1. Re 1d . Thomas, 1710-1796--Congresses. I. Dalgarno, Melvin,
1943- II. Matthews, Eric, 1936- III. Ser 1e s.
B1537.P49 1989
192--dc19 89-2297
ISBN-13: 978-94-010-7552-7 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-2338-6
DOl: 10.1 007/978-94-009-2338-6
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Introduction
Note on references to the works of Thomas Reid
5
SECTION 1 - Perception
Yves Michaud (University of Paris, France) 9
'Reid's Attack on the Theory of Ideas'
William P. Alston (Syracuse University, U.S.A.) 35
'Reid on Perception and Conception'
Vere Chappell (University of Massachusetts, U.S.A.) 49
'The Theory of Sensations'
Norton Nelkin (University of New Orleans, U.S.A.) 65
'Reid's View of Sensations Vindicated'
A.E. Pitson (University of Stirling, Scotland) 79
'Sensation, Perception and Reid's Realism'
Aaron Ben-Zeev (University of Haifa, Israel) 91
'Reid's Opposition to the Theory of Ideas'
Michel Malherbe (University of Nantes, France) 103
'Thomas Reid on the Five Senses'
SECTION 2 - Knowledge and COlIIOOn Sense
Keith Lehrer (University of Arizona, U.S.A.) 121
'Reid on Evidence and Conception'
Dennis Charles Holt (Southeast Missouri State 145
University, U.S.A.)
'The Defence of Common Sense in Reid and Moore'
T.J. Sutton (University of Oxford, England) 159
'The Scottish Kant?'
Daniel Schulthess (university of Berne, Switzerland) 193
'Did Reid Hold Coherentist Views?'
VI
Claudine Engel-Tiercelin (University of Rouen, France) 205
'Reid and Peirce on Belief'
C.A.J. Coady (University of Melbourne, Australia) 225
'Reid on Testimony'
SECTION 3 - Mind and Action
James Somerville (University of Hull, England) 249
'Making out the Signatures: Reid's Account of
the Knowledge of Other Minds'
R.F. Stalley (University of Glasgow, Scotland) 275
'Causality and Agency in the Philosophy of
Thomas Reid'
John J. Haldane (University of st. Andrew's, Scotland) 285
'Reid, Scholasticism and Current
Philosophy of Mind'
SECTION 4 - Aesthetics, Moral and political Philosophy
Peter Kivy (Rutgers University, U.S.A.) 307
'Seeing (and so forth) is Believing
(among other things); on the Significance
of Reid in the History of Aesthetics'
Henning Jensen (University of Arizona, U.S.A.) 329
'Reid versus Hurne: a Dilemma in the Theory
of Moral Worth'
Peter J. Diamond (University of Utah, U.S.A.) 341
'Reid and Active virtue'
Kenneth Mackinnon (University of Aberdeen, Scotland) 355
'Thomas Reid on Justice: A Rights-Based Theory'
Melvin T. Dalgarno (University of Aberdeen, Scotland) 369
'Taking Upon Oneself a Character:
Reid on political Obligation'
SECTION 5 - Historical Context and Influences
Charles Stewart-Robertson (University of 389
New Brunswick, Canada)
'Thomas Reid and Pneumatology: the Text of
the Old, the Tradition of the New'
~i
Kathleen Holcomb (Angelo State University, U.S.A.) 413
'Reid in the Philosophical Society'
Jack Fruchtman, Jr. (Towson State University, U.S.A.) 421
'Common Sense and the Association of Ideas;
the Reid-priestley controversy'
Paul Wood (University of Toronto, Canada) 433
'Reid on Hypotheses and the Ether:
a Reassessment'
David F. Channell (University of Texas, U.S.A.) 447
'The Role of Thomas Reid's philosophy in
Science and Technology: the Case of
W.J.M. Rankine'
Carolyn E. Channell (Southern Methodist University, 457
U.S.A.)
'George Jardine's Course in Logic and Rhetoric:
an Application of Thomas Reid's
Common Sense Philosophy'
Bibliography 467
Index of Names 483
Index of Subjects 487
INTRODUCTIW
In September, 1985, the Philosophy Department of the
University of Aberdeen organized an International Conference
to mark the two-hundredth anniversary of the first
publication of Thomas Reid's Essays on the Intellectual
Powers of Man. By the time these Essays were published in
1785, Reid had occupied the Chair of Moral Philosophy at
Glasgow University for many years and had greatly increased
his reputation. It was nevertheless appropriate that it
should be Aberdeen which played host to this Bicentennial
Conference, for in all the most important respects Reid was a
philosopher of that region. He was so by birth and
education: he was born in the village of Strachan, some
twenty miles from the city of Aberdeen, and was a student
(later librarian) at Aberdeen's Marischal College which was
a separate University until it merged with King's College in
1860 to form the present University of Aberdeen. But more
importantly, it was in Aberdeen that he formulated his
central philosophical positions, during his years as a parish
minister at Newmachar (1737-51), during his term as a Regent
at King's College (1751-64), and in his discussions with his
fellow-members of the Aberdeen Philosophical Society in which
he played a leading part. Also it is in the University
Library at Aberdeen that the most important Reid papers are
preserved, with the Minute Book of the Philosophical Society
in which the initial Minutes are in his hand. It was
fitting, therefore, that it should be at Aberdeen where the
publication of his major work was commemorated in this way.
The Conference attracted interest from scholars from all
parts of the world, testifying to Reid's continuing worldwide
influence and appeal. Altogether 79 delegates were present
in Aberdeen, of whom the majority came from outside Britain -
from the rest of Europe, from North America, Australia, Japan
and South Africa. Four plenary sessions with invited
speakers were arranged, although unfortunately one had to be
cancelled because of the illness of a speaker,
pr~ncipal
Keith Lehrer. (Professor Lehrer's paper is nevertheless
included in the present volume). In addition, there were 42
contributed papers, presented at smaller gatherings. Both
invited and contributed papers covered virtually the whole
range of Reid studies, as had been intended, though naturally
the bulk of them concerned Reid's theories of knowledge and
perception. In addition to the serious proceedings, there
M. Dalgarrw and E. Matthews (eds.), The Philosophy otThomas Reid, 1-3.
© 1989 by Kluwer Academic Publishers.
2 INTRODUCTION
was a visit to Reid's birthplace at Strachan and a very
enjoyable Bicentennial Dinner with appropriate musical
entertainment. The University Library staged an exhibition
on Reid and the Enlightenment to coincide with the
Conference.
Some of the papers presented analyses of Reid's
arguments, some comparisons of Reid with other philosophers,
some explored the contemporary philosophical relevance of
Reid's insights and some placed Reid in his historical,
cultural and social context. Virtually all of the papers
presented would have had some claim to be included in a
volume of proceedings such as this. Unfortunately, for
technical reasons it proved impossible to include them all.
This made our task as editors extremely difficult: we had to
make a balanced selection from the good and the very good.
This is what we have attempted to do. We should like to
express our gratitude to Reidel's reader and to the General
Editor of the series, Keith Lehrer, for their invaluable
assistance in this difficult task. In the end of the day,
however, the responsibility for the selection rests with us,
and we can only hope that readers will agree with us that
this collection represents an important addition to published
work on Reid.
The papers have been arranged in sections by
subject-matter, though inevitably in some cases it was
arbitrary to assign a particular paper to one section rather
than to another. The volume thus begins with the largest
group of papers, those on Reid's theory of perception. There
then follows a section on his theory of knowledge more
generally. The later sections deal with Reid's moral,
political and legal philosophy; with his aesthetics; and with
the history of ideas and the philosophy of science. The
volume thus helps to make clear, as did the Conference
itself, the range of Reid's philosophical and scientific
interests and his continuing relevance to modern philosophy.
It was striking how the Conference underlined so many themes
in such modern thinkers as wittgenstein, Austin, Searle and
Davidson which had been anticipated by Reid.
We have tried to intervene editorially as little as
possible in the content of the papers, believing that,
whether or not we agree with them, the authors' views are
valuable contributions to Reid scholarship and to philosophy.
In some cases, we have sought to improve the style of an
author's paper, especially where the author's native language
ThITRODUCTION 3
is not English. We have standardized spelling on the
British, rather than the American, model and have tried to
adopt consistent spellings of words such as 'judgment' for
which there are two equally legitimate spellings. We have
adopted a uniform system for referring to passages in the
works of Reid himself, explained on a later page, and have
brought into line with this the very various methods of
referring to Reid found in the original versions of the
papers. We have also adopted a uniform method of referring
to works by other writers: all references, other than those
to Reid himself, can be traced by consulting the Bibliography
at the end of the volume. Finally, we have provided an Index
which we hope will make it easier to find discussions of
particular topics within the volume.
In addition to those acknowledgements already made, we
should like to express our thanks to a number of people and
institutions. First, thanks are due to our fellow-members of
the Conference organizing committee for their sterling work.
We, and they, are grateful to the Royal Society of Edinburgh
(of which Reid was an early member), the British Academy, the
British Council, the Cultural Section of the French Embassy
in London and the University of Aberdeen for financial and
other support. Wendy de Veer of Reidel has been consistently
encouraging and helpful. And last, but by no means least, we
owe a considerable debt to our secretarial assistants: Mrs
Mannell Parker, the Philosophy Department secretary who gave
us unstinting help both during the Conference itself and
subsequently in the preparation of some of the papers for
publication and in correspondence with authors and
publishers; and Mrs. Barbara Rae and Mrs. Kay Duggan who made
an excellent job of preparing the remaining papers.
Melvin T. Dalgarno
Eric H. Matthews
Aberdeen, April, 1987.