Where Mechanism Ends: Thomas Reid on the Moral and the Animal Oeconomy
Theories of life have consequences for how the social order is conceptualized. I pursue this theme in the work of the Aberdeen philosopher of mind Thomas Reid (1710–96), or more accurately, in his reactions to others’ views. Reid typically developed his own ideas into a coherent view in juxtaposition to ideas to which he took exception. This means entering into a number of apparently discrete contexts before the unifying threads can be made plain. Let me introduce my theme with a not untypical example of Reid’s way of clarifying by accentuating difference. In 1794, just two years before he died, Reid gave two lectures to the Glasgow Literary Society. The subjects were apparently unconnected. In the first lecture Reid extensively criticized and commented on Joseph Priestley’s materialist philosophy. The central point of dispute was the inertness of matter and its consequences for physiology and religion: “By what force [the muscular fibers] are contracted and relaxed, either in voluntary or involuntary Motion, Philosophy has never discovered. . . . It is here that Mechanism ends, at least human wisdom has never been able to carry it farther; and some cause must operate that has the power of beginning motion” (Wood 1995, 202).
Studies in the philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment.
M. A. Stewart: Introduction Roger L. Emerson: Science and Moral Philosophy in the Scottish Enlightenment James Moore: The Two Systems of Francis Hutcheson: On the Origins of the Scottish Enlightenment Knud Haakonssen: Natural Law and Moral Realism: The Scottish Synthesis Richard B. Sher: Professors of Virtue: The Social History of the Edinburgh Moral Philosophy Chair in the Eighteenth Century P. B. Wood: Science and the Pursuit of Virtue in the Aberdeen Enlightenment Michael Barfoot: Hume and the Culture of Science in the Early Eighteenth Century David Wootton: Hume's 'Of Miracles': Probability and Irreligion David R. Raynor: Hume and Berkeley's Three Dialogues John P. Wright: Metaphysics and Physiology: Mind, Body, and the Animal Economy in Eighteenth-Century Scotland John W. Yolton: Reviews of: Scepticism and Reasonable Doubt by M. Jamie Ferreira and The Mind of God and the Works of Man by Edward Craig
Motivation and the Moral Sense in Francis Hutcheson’s Ethical Theory
Hutcheson's Life and Works.- Method of Treatment.- I.Hutcheson's Theory of Motivation.- The Origins and Distinctive Characteristics of Hutcheson's.- Theory of Motivation.- Hutcheson's Refutation of Egoism.- Hutcheson's Treatment of Desire and Pleasure.- The Calm Desires.- The Place of Reason in Conduct.- Concluding Comments on Hutcheson's Theory of Motivation.- II. Hutcheson's Moral Sense Theory.- Shaftesbury's Influence.- The Epistemological Background of Hutcheson's Moral Sense Theory.- The Nature and Function of the Moral Sense.- The Nature of Moral Judgments.- III. The Moral Sense and Motivation.- Introductory Statement of Problem.- Hutcheson's Criticisms of the Rationalists.- The Moral Sense and Motivation.- Obligation and motivation.- Concluding Remarks.- IV. Motivation and the Moral Sense in Hutgheson's Later Works.- V. Concluding Remarks.- The Moral Sense and Moral Feelings.- The Justification of Moral Judgments.- The Nature of Moral Judgments.- Motivation and the Moral Sense.- Selected Bibliography.