Thomas Reid – Essays on the Active Powers of Man

The Essays on the Active Powers of Man (1788) was Thomas Reid’s last major work. It was conceived as part of one large work, intended as a final synoptic statement of his philosophy. The first and larger part was published three years earlier as Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (edited as vol. 3 of the Edinburgh Edition of Thomas Reid). These two works are united by Reid’s basic philosophy of common sense, which sets out native principles by which the mind operates in both its intellectual and active aspects. The Active Powers shows how these principles are involved in volition, action, and the ability to judge morally. Reid gives an original twist to a libertarian and realist tradition that was prominently represented in eighteenth-century British thought by such thinkers as Samuel Clarke and Richard Price.

Reviews of Thomas Reid – Essays on the Active Powers of Man

This, the seventh volume in the Edinburgh Edition of Thomas Reid, is a long awaited and very welcome addition ! The extensive manuscript material (preserved in the Library of Aberdeen University and now available on line) has proved to be of special value in enabling the editors (and thus readers) to identify the philosophers with whom Reid saw himself to be engaged ! Taken together, the text and footnotes will make this the definitive edition of the Active Powers for many years to come. Journal of Scottish Philosophy This, the seventh volume in the Edinburgh Edition of Thomas Reid, is a long awaited and very welcome addition ! The extensive manuscript material (preserved in the Library of Aberdeen University and now available on line) has proved to be of special value in enabling the editors (and thus readers) to identify the philosophers with whom Reid saw himself to be engaged ! Taken together, the text and footnotes will make this the definitive edition of the Active Powers for many years to come.