Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-x4r87 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T21:44:36.526Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reid on powers of the mind and the person behind the curtain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Laurent Jaffro
Laurent Jaffro*
Affiliation:
Philosophy Department, Panthéon-Sorbonne University, 17 rue de la Sorbonne, 75231Paris, France
*
*Email: jaffro@univ-paris1.fr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

According to Thomas Reid, powers of will and powers of understanding are distinguishable in thought, but conjoined in practice. This paper examines the claim that there is no inert intelligence, the operations of the understanding involving some degree of activity. The question is: whose activity? For it is clear that a great deal of our mental activity is not in our power. We need to distinguish between a weak and a strong sense of ‘power’, and consider our dependence ‘upon God and the laws of nature’ in our mental exertions.

Keywords

willunderstandingpoweractivityaction
Type
Mind, Language, Metaphysics
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 41 , Issue S1: New Essays on Reid , July 2011 , pp. 197 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Copenhaver, Rebecca 2006. “Is Reid a Mysterian?” Journal of the History of Philosophy 44 (3): 449–466.10.1353/hph.2006.0037CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Copenhaver, Rebecca 2007. “Reid on Consciousness: HOP, HOT, or FOR?” The Philosophical Quarterly 57 (229): 613–634.10.1111/j.1467-9213.2007.499.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Destutt de Tracy, Antoine-Louis-Claude 1801. Projet d'éléments d’idéologie. Paris: P. Didot l’aıné, F. Didot et Debray.Google Scholar
Destutt de Tracy, Antoine L. C. 2012. Eléments d’idéologie. Idéologie proprement dite, edited by Jolly, Claude Paris: Vrin.Google Scholar
Hoffman Paul, D. 2006. “Thomas Reid's Notion of Exertion.” Journal of the History of Philosophy 44 (3): 431–447.10.1353/hph.2006.0041CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huoranszki, Ferenc 2003. “Common Sense and the Theory of Human Behaviour.” In The Philosophy of Thomas Reid, edited by Haldane, John and Read, Stephen L. 113–130. London: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Lindsay, Chris 2005. “Reid on Scepticism about Agency and the Self.” Journal of Scottish Philosophy 3 (1): 19–33.10.3366/jsp.2005.3.1.19CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reid, Thomas 2002. Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man [EIP], edited by Brookes, Derek R. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Reid, Thomas 2003. “Of Power.” In The Philosophy of Thomas Reid, edited by Haldane, John and Read, Stephen L. 14–23. London: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Reid, Thomas 2010. Essays on the Active Powers of Man [EAP], edited by Haakonssen, Knud and Harris, James A. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Wolterstorff, Nicholas 2001. Thomas Reid and the Story of Epistemology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Yaffe, Gideon 2004. Manifest Activity. Thomas Reid's Theory of Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/019926855X.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar