"Such principles are parts of our constitution, no less than the power of thinking: reason can neither make nor destroy them; nor can it do any thing without them: it is like a telescope, which may help a man to see farther, who hath eyes; but without eyes, a telescope shows nothing at all."
— Reid, Thomas (1710-1796)
Author
Place of Publication
London and Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed for A. Millar and A. Kincaid & J. Bell
Date
1764
Metaphor
"Such principles are parts of our constitution, no less than the power of thinking: reason can neither make nor destroy them; nor can it do any thing without them: it is like a telescope, which may help a man to see farther, who hath eyes; but without eyes, a telescope shows nothing at all."
Metaphor in Context
All reasoning must be from first principles; and for first principles no other reason can be given but this, that, by the constitution of our nature, we are under a necessity of assenting to them. Such principles are parts of our constitution, no less than the power of thinking: reason can neither make nor destroy them; nor can it do any thing without them: it is like a telescope, which may help a man to see farther, who hath eyes; but without eyes, a telescope shows nothing at all. A mathematician cannot prove the truth of his axioms, nor can he prove any thing, unless he takes them for granted. We cannot prove the existence of our minds, nor even of our thoughts and sensations. A historian, or a witness, can prove nothing, unless it is taken for granted that the memory and senses may be trusted. A natural philosopher can prove nothing, unless it is taken for granted that the course of nature is steady and uniform.
(V.vii, p. 71-2)
(V.vii, p. 71-2)
Categories
Provenance
Reading Lois Peter Agnew's Outward, Visible Propriety: Stoic Philosophy and Eighteenth-Century British Rhetorics (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2008), p. 73.
Citation
An Inquiry into the Human Mind, on the Principles of Common Sense. By Thomas Reid, D. D. Professor of Philosophy in King's College, Aberdeen (Edinburgh: Printed for A. Millar and A. Kincaid & J. Bell, 1764). <Link to ECCO>
The third edition is available in Google Books <Link>
See also fourth edition of 1785, which serves as the copy text for Derek Brookes' critical edition published by The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997.
See also fourth edition of 1785, which serves as the copy text for Derek Brookes' critical edition published by The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997.
Theme
Mind's Eye
Date of Entry
06/15/2010
