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In this episode, 18th c. Christian philosopher Thomas Reid gives examples of what he calls “first principles,” truths which adult humans ordinarily know without having reasoned their way to them, and even without being able to argue for or to defend them. They are part, in Reid’s view, of our God-given “common sense.”
Many if not all of these self-evident truths which he things any of us ought to know, come from Reid’s reflection on the work of other philosophers, such as David Hume, George Berkeley, Benedict Spinoza, W.G. Leibniz, and others. In his view, in different ways these philosophers ignore common sense, speculating too much, and fighting against that base of natural human knowledge that they should instead be building upon.
Do you know all the truths Reid lists? (Note that if you don’t believe a thing, you thereby do not know it.) And, do you agree that these are things which all normal human adults should know?
Links for this episode:
- Reid’s books with language slightly updated by Dr. Jonathan Bennett
- Thomas Reid @SEP, @Wikipedia
- This week’s thinking music is “Lilly….So Far Away” by Fireproof Babies.
