Thomas Reid, philosopher (1710 – 1796)

Thomas Reid founded the 'common sense' school of philosophy. He taught philosophy at King’s College in Aberdeen from 1752 to 1764 and was professor at Glasgow University from 1764 to 1780.

Reid’s ‘common sense’ was an attempt at a holistic view of the world that resisted over-specialisation. His books included 'Inquiry into the Human Mind', published in 1764, and 'Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man', published in 1785.

Many of his philosophical observations were in response to the ideas of David Hume, 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’ by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.