Thomas Reid's Research On Other Mind Issues

Thomas Reid(1710-1796)is a Scottish philosopher.He is known for his critical to the theory ofideas and Hume’s skepticism.It can not be ignored that the value of common sense philosophy established by Reid has a strong impact on the criticism of the theory of ideas and skeptical foundations,and the benefit of theory of perception based on common sense to solve contemporary mind problems.I.Therefore,this paper will focus on Thomas Reid’s theory of common sense to explore the human mind,and to explore the answers to the problem of other minds.The problem of other minds is one of the important topics in the Philosophy of Mind.The origin of this problem is generally acknowledged as Cartesian mind-body dualism.Dualism takes the sole certainty of "I thinking"as the basis of all knowledge,resulting in the separation of body and mind,which makes the cognitive impossible to know any objects,including body and other external things,other than"I think".As a result,there is an asymmetry between mind and body,self and others,which makes it difficult to know other minds.Reid called Cartesian cognitive mode as " theory of ideas ".First of all,in Reid’s view,the way that dualism perceives the objects is by perceiving the ideas in the mind directly,which is contrary to common sense.Secondly,the idealism lacks reliable theoretical basis for knowledge of the external world,and idea itself is an unjustified hypothesis.Which will sow the seeds for skepticism.To avoid skepticism,Reid abandoned the cognitive mode ofidealism and replaced it with the theory ofperception,which provides a new account of the knowledge of mind.Reid’s theory of perception is based on his philosophy of common sense,so it can also be called the theory of common sense perception.Nature endows us l with a special structure of nature.The theory of perception is not only the basis of cognitive object,but also is the epistemological basis of other mind.Common sense,as the basis of knowledge,is also the basis of other mental knowledge.Therefore,the theory of common sense perception is Reid’s secret weapon to solve other mind problems.The thesis divided into four parts.In the first part,I am going to point out that other mind problem originated from Descartes,and that Cartesian led to the asymmetry of other mind cognition.Reid believes that the fundamental reason is that the Cartesian epistemological framework takes ideas as the object of understanding,and then refutes the idealism from the issue of ideas.In the second part,based on Reid’s refutation of the idealism,I am about to introduce Reid’s epistemological foundation of other mind.The theory of perceptual based on common sense as the theoretical basis for recognizing other mimd problem not only avoids many problems brought about by the theory of ideas,but also relies on the theory of perception to respond to the doubts of skepticism.The third part of the thesis is an explicit interpretation of Reid’s discussion of mind.Reid believes that other mimd exists and can be perceived.Reid believes that the existence of the mimd is an innate belief,besides one’s own soul,there is the soul of others.This is a self-evident,innate belief that is direct,and not inferential.Meanwhile,the human mind has many abilities,and these abilities and operations are natural.The final conclusion is a summary of the full text.Reid’s solution to other minds is a new breakthrough,which is easy to be accepted by more people.The study of Thomas Reid’s mind can not only help us understand Reid’s philosophy of mind,but also make us understand the charm of Reid’s philosophy.