Thomas Reid (1710-96) is increasingly being seen as a central figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. His Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense has long been recognized as a classic philosophical text. Since its first publication in 1764, no fewer than forty editions have been published. The proliferation of secondary literature further indicates that Reid's work is flourishing as never before, yet there exist thousands of unpublished manuscript pages in Reid's hand, many of which relate directly to the composition of the Inquiry. Furthermore, no account has been taken of the successive alterations made to the four editions published in Reid's lifetime. This new edition, edited by Derek Brookes, aims to present a complete, critically edited text of the Inquiry, accompanied by a judicious selection of manuscript evidence relating to its composition.The volume contains a preface by Brookes followed by an introduction giving the central argument of the Inquiry by means of a historical and philosophical account of its formation. The critical text is based on the fourth lifetime edition (1785), while the textual notes include bibliographical details and allusions, translations, references to secondary literature, and selected passages from Reid's manuscript.

Thomas Reid was one of the greatest thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment. In his own time he was seen as the most able opponent of the scepticism of David Hume and the architect of 'Common Sense' philosophy. His ideas were immensely influential both in his native Scotland and abroad, and the last forty years have seen a marked revival of interest in his work. Reid published very little about religion and his notes from the lectures on natural theology that he regularly gave have not survived. This volume - a companion to Thomas Reid: Selected Philosophical Writings (Imprint Academic, 2012) - makes available material from Reid's autograph manuscripts, housed in the University of Aberdeen Library, and student notes of Reid's lectures, edited from original manuscripts in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. It includes an introductory essay by Nicholas Wolterstorff, a leading philosopher of religion and interpreter of Reid.

This book offers a new account of the relationship between empiricism and the essay in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Exploring topics such as trust, testimony, virtue, and language, it offers new perspectives on connections between philosophy and literature, empiricism and transcendentalism, and Enlightenment and Romanticism.