Section I. The excellence and dignity of this faculty........ 162 II. Sight discovers almost nothing which the Blind may not comprehend. The reason of this.... 164 IX. Of the Geometry of Visibles.. X. Of the Parallel Motion of the eyes.. XI. Of our seeing objects Erect by inverted images.. 215 XII. The same subject continued.... XIII. Of seeing objects Single with two eyes.. XIV. Of the laws of vision in Brute animals.... XIX. Of Dr. Brigg's theory, and Sir Isaac Newton's conjecture on this subject.... XX. Of Perception in general.... XXIII. Of the Signs used in other acquired perceptions... 316 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. DUGALD STEWART truly says, that the life of Thomas Reid 66 was uncommonly barren of those incidents which furnish materials for biography." His life was spent in comparative quiet and retirement, and was, therefore, not replete with varied incident. He was born April 26th, 1710, at Strachan, Kincardineshire, Scotland. His father was the Rev. Lewis Reid, a highly respected clergyman, who was descended from a succession of ministers of the Church of Scotland. His mother, Margaret Gregory, belonged to a family somewhat distinguished in Scotland for their scientific attainments. Early in life Reid was sent to the parish school of Kincardine where he spent two years. From the parish school he went to Aberdeen, where he received instruction in the classics. When about twelve or thirteen years of age he entered Marischal College. Here he was instructed in Philosophy by Dr. George Turnbull, who undoubtedly exerted a great influence upon his philosophical thinking.* He graduated from college in 1726. Receiving an appointment of librarian to the University, he continued his connection with it until 1736. During * Dr. McCosh says that Turnbull exercised a greater influence upon Reid's thinking "than all other masters and writers' combined. "The Scottish Philosophy," pp. 95-106. this period he devoted much of his time to the study of Mathematics. Resigning his office in 1736, he visited England in company with his friend, John Stewart, who afterward held the chair of Mathematics in Marischal College. They visited London, Oxford and Cambridge, where they were introduced to many noted literary men. In 1737, having been presented "to the living of NewMachar," by King's College, Aberdeen, he entered upon his clerical work. The early part of his ministerial life in this parish was signalized by an intense hostility to him on the part of his parishioners. This was occasioned specially by the aversion which his people had to the law of patronage. Furthermore, he was accustomed, because of his modesty, to preach the sermons of Drs. Tillotson and Evans instead of his own. This practice was very offensive to the people. However, despite his unpopularity, through his fidelity to the interests of his parish, and his amiability of disposition, he soon ingratiated himself into the good will and affections of the people. In 1740, he was married to his cousin, Elizabeth Reid, daughter of Dr. George Reid, a London physician. His wife proved a great help to him in his work at NewMachar. While living here, "the greater part of his time," says Dugald Stewart, "was spent in the most intense study; more particularly in a careful examination of the laws of external perception, and of the other principles which form the groundwork of human knowledge." * In 1748, his first publication appeared. It was in the form of an Essay, published in the "Transactions" of the Royal Society of London, and "Collected Works," vol. x, p. 251. was entitled, "An Essay on Quantity, occasioned by reading a Treatise in which Simple and Compound Ratios are applied to Virtue and Merit." The "Treatise" to which Reid alludes was Hutcheson's "Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue." In this "Treatise," Hutcheson made use of mathematical forms in illustrating moral subjects. Whether he meant to apply mathematical reasoning to such subjects may be doubted. Reid, however, was aware of the fact that Pitcairn and Cheyne had applied this form of reasoning to medicine, and he felt constrained to write an essay showing what rendered a subject capable of mathematical treatment. In 1752, he was elected Professor of Philosophy, in King's College, Aberdeen. Shortly after his removal to Aberdeen, the "Aberdeen Philosophical Society" was founded, principally through his endeavors. It included. among its members such men as Campbell, Gerard, Beattie and John Gregory. While connected with this society, he read papers which contained the essential principles of the "Inquiry." In 1764, he published the Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense." Reid's speculations on the subjects treated in the "Inquiry" were really begun in 1739, on the appearance of Hume's "Treatise of Human Nature." In the "Inquiry" Reid attempts to refute the scepticism of Hume by attacking the "theory of ideas" on which he thought this scepticism to be founded. Being thus directed against the sceptical philosophy of Hume, 66 * Cf. McCosh, "The Scottish Philosophy," pp. 227-9, for an account of this society. |