Reid And His French Disciples

This book offers a thorough account of Thomas Reid's philosophy, focussing on his expressionist aesthetics, then traces his influence in nineteenth-century France, in the works of such notable thinkers as Victor Cousin, Théodore Jouffroy, and René Sully-Prudhomme.

Andrea Goulet takes the study of the novel into the realm of the visual by situating it in the context of nineteenth-century scientific and philosophical discourse about the nature of sight. She argues that French realism, detective fiction, science fiction, and literature of the fantastic from 1830 to 1910 reflected competition between two modern visual modes: a not-yet-outdated idealism and an empiricism that located truth in the body. More specifically, the book argues that key narrative forms of the nineteenth century were shaped by a set of scientific debates: between idealism and materialism in Honoré Balzac's Comédie humaine, between deduction and induction in early French detective fiction, and between objective vision and subjective vision in the "optogram" fictions of Jules Verne and others. Goulet aims to revise critical views on the modern novel in a number of ways. For instance, although many literary studies focus on the impact of cinema, photography, and painting, Optiques asserts the materialist bases of realism by establishing a genealogy of popular fictional genres as fundamentally optical, that is, as articulated according to bodily notions of sight. With its chronological and interdisciplinary scope, Optiques stands to contribute an important chapter to the study of literary modernity in its scientific context.

The volume documents the results of the Annual Meeting of the International Institute of Philosophy at the occasion of the World Congress of Philosophy 2008 in Seoul. Logically, systematic and methodological differences and comparisons between cultural traditions are analyzed from a multicultural perspective. General challenges of multiculturalism for "world philosophy" are analyzed from ethical and ontological approaches, e.g. of ancient Chinese and Greek philosophy. Historical studies regarding influences and "migrations" of philosophical texts across different cultures as well as religious and human rights debates about tolerance are topical themes. In addition, the question is raised whether logical principles are cross-culturally valid.

Reid in context / Alexander Broadie -- Thomas Reid and the culture of science / Paul Wood -- Reid on common sense / Nicholas Wolterstorff -- Reid's theory of perception / James Van Cleve / Reid's reply to the skeptic / John Greco -- Nativism and the nature of thought in Reid's account of the external world / Lorne Falkenstein -- Reid and the social operations of mind / C.A.J. Coady -- Reid on memory and the identity of persons / René Van Woudenberg -- Thomas Reid's theory of freedom and responsibility / William L. Rowe -- Reid's moral philosophy / Terence Cueno -- Reid's philosophy of art / Peter Kivy -- Reid's philosophy of religion / Dale Tuggy -- Reid's influence in Britain, Germany, France, and America / Benjamin W. Redekop

Common Sense and Science from Aristotle to Reid reveals that thinkers have pondered the nature of common sense and its relationship to science and scientific thinking for a very long time. It demonstrates how a diverse array of neglected early modern thinkers turn out to have been on the right track for understanding how the mind makes sense of the world and how basic features of the human mind and cognition are related to scientific theory and practice. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources and scholarship from the history of ideas, cognitive science, and the history and philosophy of science, this book helps readers understand the fundamental historical and philosophical relationship between common sense and science.

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Thomas Reid (1710-1796) is the foremost exponent of the Scottish 'common sense' school of philosophy. Educated at Marischal College in Aberdeen, Reid subsequently taught at King's College, and was a founder of the Aberdeen Philosophical Society. His Inquiry Into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense was published in 1764, the same year he succeeded Adam Smith as Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow. He resigned from active teaching duties in 1785 to devote himself to writing, and published two more books - Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1785) and Essays on the Active Powers of Man (1788). Within a short time of publication, Reid's works were translated into French and German, and greatly influenced debates in philosophy and psychology in Europe. His influence in the emerging colleges and universities of post-revolutionary America was even greater. Reid was widely regarded as David Hume's most sophisticated contemporary critic. His critique of the 'theory of ideas' that lay behind both Hume's scepticism and Berkeley's immaterialism, his critique of Locke's theory of personal identity, and his defence of 'moral liberty' against determinism are all of enduring interest and significance. The aim of this comprehensive selection of his writings is to make the key elements of Reid's philosophical work available to a new generation of readers. Two other philosophers of the 'common sense' school are featured in the Library of Scottish Philosophy - James Beattie and Dugald Stewart.

A study of the reception of Greek and Latin culture in France in the 16th and 17th centuries. There are surveys on topics as diverse as the role of French travellers to classical lands in transforming perceptible reality into narrative textuality, and the influence of ancient law in France.