An Inquiry Into the Human Mind, on the Principles of Common SenseAn Inquiry into the Human Mind, On the Principles of Common Sense by Thomas Reid, first published in 1819, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it. |
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acquired perceptions angle ARISTOTLE attend Bishop BERKELEY CARTES cause ceive centre Cloyne colour common sense conceive connection conscious constitution contrary corresponding points custom dimensions direction discover distance distinct vision diverging eye double vision existence experience extension faculties feel give habit hardness hath human nature hypothesis ideal philosophy ideas of sensation images imagination impression inductive reasoning ject kind language law of nature less likewise look magnitude MALEBRANCHE mankind manner material world means natural signs nature hath never notion object double object is seen object of thought objects single observed operations optic nerve original pain perceive phenomena philosophers principles qualities of body rays reason reflection regard resemble retina right line scepticism SECT seems sensorium shew sight smell sound spherical angle squint suppose taste thing signified tion Treatise of Human ture visible appearance visible figure visible objects vulgar
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Page 281 - now being lately couched of his other eye, he " says, that objects at first appeared large to this " eye, but not so large as they did at first to the " other ; and looking upon the same object with " both eyes, he thought it looked about twice as " large as with the first couched eye only, but
Page 104 - nothing left, but to conclude, that by an original principle of our constitution, a certain sensation of touch both suggests to the mind the conception of hardness, and creates the belief of it: or, in other words, that this sensation is a natural sign of hardness. And this I shall endeavour more fully to explain.
Page 351 - implanted in us by the Supreme Being, is a disposition to confide in the veracity of others, and to believe what they tell us. This is the counter-part to the former; and as that may be called the principle of veracity, we shall, for want of a more proper name, call this
Page vi - upon them, than to others that have ripened them, and brought them to the birth. I ACKNOWLEDGE, my Lord, that I never thought of calling in question the principles commonly received with regard to the human understanding, until the Treatise of Human Nature was published in the year 1739. The ingenious author of that treatise, upon the
Page 25 - delusion. The labyrinth may be too intricate, and the thread too fine, to be traced through all its windings; but if we stop where we can trace it no farther, and secure the ground we have gained, there is no harm done; a quicker eye may
Page 88 - be some difference. The same voice, while it retains its proper distinctions, may yet be varied many ways, by sickness or health, youth or age, leanness or fatness, good or bad humour. The same words spoken by foreigners and natives, nay, by persons of different provinces of the same nation, may be distinguished. Such
Page 41 - the road is fair before him, he may go on without suspicion, and be followed by others; but when it ends in a coal-pit, it requires no great judgment to know that he hath gone wrong, nor perhaps to find out •what misled him. In the mean time, the unprosperous state of this part of philosophy
Page 311 - Not only men, but children, idiots, and brutes, acquire by habit many perceptions which they had not originally. Almost every employment in life, hath perceptions of this kind that are peculiar to it. The shepherd knows every sheep of his Hock, as we do our acquaintance, and can pick them out
Page 97 - they sometimes signify certain sensations of the mind, which can have no existence when they are not felt, nor can exist any where but in a mind or sentient being; but more frequently they signify a quality in bodies, which by the laws of nature, occasions the sensations of heat and cold in us:
Page 130 - something external, extended, figured, hard or soft, is not a deduction of reason, but a natural principle. The belief of it, and the very conception of it, are equally parts of our constitution. If we are deceived in it, we are deceived by Him that made us, and there is no