Thomas Reid

Thomas Reid founded the ‘Scottish Philosophy of Common Sense’.

He taught philosophy at King’s College Aberdeen (1752-64) and was professor at Glasgow (1764-80). His books include ‘Inquiry into the Human Mind’ (1764) and ‘Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man' (1785).

Reid’s ‘common sense’ was an attempt at a holistic view of the world that resisted over-specialisation.

Many of his philosophical observations were in response to David Hume’s, whose scepticism he did not share. He was an ordained minister of the Church of Scotland, and has been described as Hume’s ‘most gifted antagonist within the European republic of letters’.

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