What can we say we know with certainty? What does it mean to say that we know something? How does knowledge differ from belief? Can an exploration of basic philosophical questions, such as How do we know what we know? and What are the limits of our understanding? inform our thinking not just on intellectual issues, but on broader cultural challenges as well?

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Thomas Reid - Inquiry and Essays

Six Thursday Afternoons, February 5 - April 16

12:00-1:30PM Pacific

 

Thomas Reid's Inquiry and Essays champions common sense philosophy, arguing against skepticism (Hume) by asserting we directly perceive an external world through innate, "common" judgments rather than just ideas, proposing direct realism, and distinguishing sensation from perception; the works defend our natural beliefs in reality, causality, and free will as foundations for knowledge, ethics, and human agency, challenging idealist and empiricist views that doubted our ability to know the world beyond our minds. Join us as we meet every other Thursday, 12:00-1:30PM Pacific time.

 

Page numbers refer to the abridged Hackett Classics Edition of Thomas Reid's Inquiry,
ISBN-13:  978-0915145850

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February 5: - Introduction (Ch. 1, pp. 3-12)
February 19: - Of Smelling (Ch. 2, pp. 12-31)
March 5: - Of Hearing (Ch. 4 through Section VII, pp. 31-59)
March 19: - Of Hearing (cont’d) and Of Seeing (Ch. 4, Section VIII and Ch. 6 through Section XIII, pp. 59-82)
April 2: - Of Seeing (cont’d) (Ch. 6, Section XX et seq., pp. 83-103)
April 16: - Conclusion (Ch. 7, pp. 103-121)

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Join us as we discuss this foundational work from Reid. This series continues a broader series on epistemology. All are welcome. Please join us even if this will be your first seminar in the series.