Context
The Scottish Enlightenment is the philosophical context of Thomas Reid's "An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense" (1764). It shared in the contemporary Western Enlightenment which sought empirical answers to topics such as morality, economics and human nature. This encouraged an interest in experimental science, a belief in reason and the questioning of traditional authority.
The European debate was between Empiricism and Rationalism with Hume and Locke arguing that knowledge was based on sensory experiences, and Descartes who centred his attention on reason as the source of knowledge.
Reid was of the opinion that both Descartes and Hume based their conclusions on similar assumptions that had led both to scepticism:
"Descartes’ skepticism leads me to believe that I can only be certain of my own existence."
"Hume’s skepticism runs deeper: I can only be certain that there are ideas and impressions. I have no understanding of a mind independent of these ideas and impressions."
Reid aimed to counter this traditional scepticism by maintaining the validity of common sense:
"Common sense is the faculty that reveals first principles to us. We use these to acquire knowledge about ourselves and the world."
He insisted that beliefs about the world shared by the majority should be accepted as a basis for comprehending reality. He also affirmed that moral truths, religion, reconciliation of faith and reason, and establishing the existence of God, could be informed by common sense which thus appeared as a novel epistemology.
Summary
Chapter I. INTRODUCTION.
Reid criticises the philosophical trends of his day, especially the overreliance on reason. He argues for a new approach to philosophy based on common sense. He believes that intuition is a reliable and practical foundation for knowledge and should be valued above abstract thinking.
"Des Cartes, Malebranche, and Locke, have all employed their genius and skill to prove the existence of a material world: and with very bad success. Poor untaught mortals believe undoubtedly, that there is a sun, moon and stars ; an earth, which we inhabit; country, friends, and relations which we enjoy; land, houses, and moveables, which we possess. I despise Philosophy, and renounce its guidance: let my soul dwell with Common Sense."
Chapter II. SMELLING
The author argues that our perception of reality through smell arrives, not as a subjective experience, but captures real external odours. He makes a distinction between the substances emitting scents and the human experience of smelling.
He mentions the link between smell and memory and its evocation of emotions, adding that this demonstrates the important function this sense plays in shaping our comprehension of the world.
Reid proceeds in the following chapters to analyse the other four senses in an effort to show that they provide direct knowledge of the outside world.
CHAPTER III. TASTING.
Reid argues that taste is similar to sight and hearing since it is also a way of directly perceiving the qualities of objects. He adds that taste is a reliable source of knowledge because it is based on a common human experience. In short it forms part of a common sense which denies scepticism.
CHAPTER IV. HEARING.
The author describes hearing as the sense which allows us to perceive vibrations in the air to which we then give meaning. He states that there is no need for the intervention of complex reasoning to immediately recognise sounds and their sources. This direct perception allows us to interpret spoken language and other auditory signals.
He adds that, despite misunderstandings or mishearings, environmental information through sound is trustworthy. Reid then criticises philosophical scepticism which questions sensory perception, insisting that it conveys accurate information about the surrounding world.
CHAPTER V. TOUCH.
Reid notes that touch, unlike other senses, permits direct physical interaction with objects offering a specific way of understanding. He explores the abilities of the sense of touch to help humans perceive hardness, softness, temperature and texture.
Once again Reid insists that tactile experiences are reliable ways to understand the world and a basis for belief in common sense. They also counter the scepticism that questions the validity of sensory information, especially when added to the input of other senses, which all contribute to a coherent picture of reality.
CHAPTER VI. SEEING.
Contrary to contemporary philosophers, such as Berkeley, who argued that our perception is limited to our mental representations of reality, Reid sustained that we perceive the world directly through our senses.
Reid maintained that through our visual experiences we interpret reality actively by perceiving space, depth and motion. He rejected the sceptical theory that our sensory experience deceives us, and though admitting that illusions and errors exist, maintains that they do not conform the whole of perception. It is because of the coherent vision of reality offered by our senses that we can assert our cognitive grasp of the external world.
CHAPTER VII. CONCLUSION.
Reid concludes his inquiry on the human mind based on the senses by insisting on the valid grounding of knowledge in common sense. He emphasises that intuition is natural, as well as essential for the comprehension of reality. He also argues that questioning the certainty of knowledge through scepticism makes life unlivable.
He advocates a philosophical outlook that recognises direct experience and trust in the senses, founding this perspective on the belief that certain truths are self-evident and do not need proofs. This is his framework for knowledge, based on experience and common judgement, rejecting abstraction and insisting on a common sense grasp of human cognition.
Themes
Descartes and Reid
Descartes' epistemology relied on doubt as a starting point in order to arrive at certainty. His "cogito ergo sum" conclusion was his basis for knowledge and he thought it a final truth. Contrary to Descartes' foundation of knowledge on reason and doubt, Reid, while recognising reason as one path to knowledge, sought to support the empirical grounding of knowledge in the validity of human perception.
Cartesian dualism proposed a view of reality which differentiated between the non-material mind and the material body. He regarded sensory experience as deceptive and relied on the rational mind as the only source of knowledge. Reid took a more holistic outlook of human cognition in which perception and understanding are related. This debate informed the traditionally antagonistic ideologies of Empiricism and Rationalism.
Hume's scepticism
Hume's scepticism was based on his empirical view of the world and he voiced it in particular about causation and the limits of human understanding. He maintained that human beliefs were grounded, not in reasonable justifications, but in habit. His epistemology lay on the uncertainty of our knowledge about the outside world because our experiences are mediated by perception, which may be deceptive.
Reid challenged Hume's sceptical outlook arguing that our common sense perceptions of reality are accurate. He views Hume's scepticism as undermining our valid intuitions about the world.
The debate between belief in the certainty of our knowledge, and disbelief in that certainty, remains a major philosophical discussion
Berkeley
Reid and Berkeley agreed on rejecting representationalism which sustained that we perceive objects indirectly through ideas in our mind, one through antiscepticism, the other on the grounds of common sense.
However, Reid disagreed with Berkeley's idealism, the concept that only ideas and minds exist, because it was not commonsensical. Reid also criticised Berkeley's acceptance of The Way of Ideas, a tradition which separates philosophy from science and common sense. On the other hand, Berkeley considered Reid a materialist because he accepted the existence of things that were independent of the mind.
Both philosophers tackled the subjects of epistemology and perception. Berkeley's idealist stance argued that material objects do not exist independently of our perception of them and he discarded the concept of material substance. Reid was a common sense realist and maintained that the world outside our minds does exist and that our senses can inform us about it directly. He insisted that this sensory knowledge was reliable.
Reality for Berkeley was principally mental. The physical world is a collection of ideas in the mind of the perceiver. As an Irish bishop he evoked an existence of reality beyond human perception. In this conception the world is maintained in the mind of God who ensures its continuity, even when it is not perceived by humans. Reid, on the contrary, argued that reality is formed by materiality and it did not depend on human perception for its existence. His proof is our sensory experiences which offer a valid appreciation of reality.
As a philosophical method Berkeley confronted his contemporaries' materialism by using traditional scepticism in an extreme manner and making the mind his only priority. This approach may have its origin in his conservative ecclesiastical outlook in the changing world of the Enlightenment with its vision promoting empirical scientific methods, a belief in reason and the questioning of traditional authority. Reid adopted an approach influenced by the empricism of his time and focused on defending common sense and sensory experiences against the scepticism of the philosophical tradition advanced by Descartes and Hume and continued by Berkeley.
The existence of God
Reid had a degree in divinity and he became an ordained minister in Aberdeenshire in 1737. He argued for the existence of God, but his Newtonian thinking prevented him from using physics as part of his proofs. This led him to move the emphasis of proof from apologetics to rationalism. He argued from reason due to his critique of Descartes and Hume who based their scepticism on rationality:
“Their evidence is not demonstrative, but intuitive. They require not proof, but to be placed in the proper point of view."
His cosmological argument follows previous thinkers who posited first causes. This is meant to counter Hume's idea that causation does not exist, except in the mind of the observer.
The argument from design involves two principles: one is the inference of an intelligent designer from creation; the other is that Nature has the marks of intelligent design. He concludes:
“that the works of Nature are the effects of a wise and intelligent cause.”
Hume is credited with the idea that design is not a cogent argument since we only know this universe. To this Reid gives a common sense answer by saying that we have always previously found design to be linked to its strongest marks.
Common sense
Reid's foundational belief in common sense led him to maintain that certain perceptions and intuitions about reality are reliably true and don't need justification. These self-evident truths are accepted universally by all rational human beings.
These truths, however, are created through a circle of beliefs with no empirical evidence, such as that external reality, other minds and the reliability of the senses exist. Reid argues that his self-evident truths are not based on observation, evidence or complex reasoning but are recognisable in themselves. This line of argument resembles more medieval thinking than Enlightenment reasoning.
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