This is a past event
26 April, 7th Floor of the Sir Duncan Rice Library - Thomas Reid's 307th Birthday Party!
Schedule for the day:
10:30 - 11:30 "Reid on Identity: Nazis, Memory, and Personhood" by Tom Flint and James McHardy, The Wise Club (Aberdeen) 11:30 - 11:45 Tea and Coffee break 11:45 - 12:45 "A Short History of Common Sense" by Dr Beth Lord (Aberdeen) 12:45 - 14:00 Sandwich Lunch followed by document presentation by Special CollectionsDocuments on display from Special Collections will include: early manuscripts from Thomas Reid, notes relating to the Aberdeen Philosophical Society, the first three issues of Transactions of the Aberdeen Philosophical Society, and more! 14:00 - 14:45 "Reid on Causation, Powers, and Agency" by Dr Stephan Torre (Aberdeen) 14:45 - 15:00 Thomas Reid Birthday Cake, Tea and Coffee 15:00 - 16:30 Keynote Address: Does Thomas Reid have a place in the 21st Century? - Dr Chris Lindsay (Glasgow) Abstract: In addition to being a philosopher at Aberdeen, then Glasgow, Thomas Reid was a minister of the kirk with a deep commitment to the new Newtonian scientific methodology. His core philosophical theses included a rejection of the then-orthodox 'way of ideas' (the claim that the immediate objects of perception are private mental items, namely ideas or impressions), a commitment to a common sense epistemology, a direct realist theory of perception, a libertarian account of free will and a metaphysics that saw agents as the only true causes. To what extent can an 18th Century philosopher with such views have a place in 21st Century philosophy? I will try to demonstrate that many of his views are still of significant value with respect to current debates within the subject. This event is made possible by funding from Scots Philosophical Association.
- Venue
- 7th Floor of the Sir Duncan Rice Library