Essays on the Active Powers of the Human Mind
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~180,000 words · 857 passages
Cite this work
- APAThomas Reid. (n.d.). Essays on the Active Powers of the Human Mind. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/thomas-reid/essays-on-the-active-powers-of-the-human-mind
- MLAThomas Reid. "Essays on the Active Powers of the Human Mind." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/thomas-reid/essays-on-the-active-powers-of-the-human-mind.
- ChicagoThomas Reid. Essays on the Active Powers of the Human Mind. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/thomas-reid/essays-on-the-active-powers-of-the-human-mind.
What it is about
The twin volume to the last, of 1788: where that one was about knowing, this is about acting, and here Reid sets out his theory of liberty and of morals.
Context and history
The central argument about liberty is that of agent causation: an action is not caused by a prior desire as one billiard ball is moved by another; rather there is an agent who causes it, and that is a different way of causing from the physical. Reid holds that without this it makes no sense to hold anyone responsible. The moral part argues that the principles of duty are self-evident, as the principles of common sense are in knowledge, and it opposes Hume expressly: reason is not the slave of the passions, and what is right is not what we happen to like. Reid's two volumes were written to go together, and to read one alone is to see only half.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Chap. i. Of the Notion of yl^ive Power ^ - - 5 2. 7" he fame SubjeEl^ - - - 13 ■ 3. Of Mr Locke's Account of our Idea of Power y 22 4. OfMx Hume's Opinion of the Idea of Power, - 26 5. Whether Beings that have no Will nor Under/landing may have ABive Power ? - - ~ 33 6. Of the efficient Caufes of the Phanomena of Nature y 41 7. Of the Extent of Human Power, - - 48 ESSAY n. OF THE WILL. Chap. i. Obfervations concerning the Will, " - - 59 2. 0/ the Influence of Incitements and Motives upon the — 3. Of Operations of Mind which may be called Voluntary, 78 -' 4. Corollaries, ^ - - - - 92 ESSAY III. OF THE PRINCIPLES OF ACTION. PARTI. Of the Mechanical Principles of Jaion. '^ Chap. t. Of the Principles of jl£lion in general, - 97 a 2 ESSAY % vi CONTENTS. ESSAY III. PART II. Of Animal Principles of AB'ion. Page Chap. i. Of Appetites, - - - 121 2. OfDeftres,.y - . - 131 3. Of Benevolent Affedion in general, - - I41 4. Of the particular