Thomas Reid (1710-96)

Major work

•          Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man

Importance

•          The founder of Scottish Realism (Scottish Realism attempted to overcome the epistemological, metaphysical, and moral skepticism of the Enlightenment philosophy of David Hume with a philosophy of common sense and natural realism)

•          A moderate Presbyterian clergyman

•          Believed the human mind perceives external objects directly through intuitive knowledge