Thomas Reid

Thomas Reid (1710-1796), Scottish philosopher, founder of the Scottish, or common-sense, school of philosophy. He was born in Strachan, Kincardine, Scotland, and educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen. He became professor of philosophy at King's College, Aberdeen, in 1752, and professor of moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow in 1764. In the field of epistemology, or the theory of knowledge, Reid attempted to counter the skepticism of the British philosopher David Hume, who denied the objective value of reasoning based on sense impressions. Reid argued that the external world exists independently of the act through which it is perceived, and he maintained that the judgments of the mind regarding the causality of phenomena are true and reliable. In 1764 Reid published his An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense. Other works include Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1785) and Essays on the Active Powers of Man (1788).