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Add to Wishlist Defends Reid's Common Sense philosophy against the claim that perception does not allow us to experience the physical world With a new reading of Thomas Reid on primary and secondary qualities, Christopher A. Shrock illuminates the Common Sense theory of perception. Shrock follow's Reid's lead in defending common sense philosophy against the problem of secondary qualities, which claims that our perceptions are only experiences in our brains, and don't let us know about the world around us. At the same time, Schrock maintains a healthy optimism about science and reason. Common sense philosophy states that we connect with the physical world around us through our perception of it. Philosophers call this view of perception 'direct realism'. The opposite view to this is 'the problem of secondary qualities', which relegates our perceptions--from colours, smells, sounds and tastes to how long something looks or how heavy something feels--to the mental realm, because science has no objective place for them. The logical conclusion of this argument is that we can never perceive physical objects or their properties through our senses.

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9781474452779

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Although the past years have seen the publication of monographs on almost every aspect of Thomas Reid's philosophy, his theory of primary and secondary qualities has not been treated in book length. Christopher Shrock closes this gap in the literature ... It is easily the most comprehensive treatment of Thomas Reid's theory of primary and secondary qualities currently available. The offered interpretation of Reid's view is convincing and, in my opinion, superior to those of Shrock's predecessors ... The book is intended as a historically adequate study of Reid's views on secondary qualities, but it also follows a genuinely systematic interest. I found the blend of these two tenets very convincing and a pleasure to read ... I wholeheartedly recommend it to every scholar interested in secondary qualities in the eighteenth century or Thomas Reid's theory of perception. --Hannes Ole Matthiessen, Humboldt-Universit t zu Berlin, Journal of Scottish Philosophy

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Christopher A. Shrock is Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio Valley University.

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