Book Club Potluck - Inquiry Into the Human Mind

About this event

Mark Hopkins will host our discussion of Inquiry Into the Human Mind: On the Principles of Common Sense by Thomas Reid. Mark suggested this book.

How we know what we feel shapes how we think about everything.

Thomas Reid’s Inquiry Into the Human Mind explores how our senses work, what they reveal about heat, cold, hardness, and softness, and how our judgments arise from more than simple sensations.

Reid argues that sensations are not the same as the real qualities of objects. He shows how heat and cold, though felt, point to unknown causes in bodies, while hardness and softness point to real properties that exist even when not perceived. The text also examines how common sense guides everyday belief, and why philosophical theories must align with how we actually experience the world.

• How heat, cold, and other sensations relate to the qualities they signify in objects.

• Why perceived hardness is a distinct sensation from the external property itself.

• How ordinary judgment and belief arise from our sensory experience, not just from comparing ideas.

• Critiques of existing philosophical theory and a defense of common sense in understanding the mind.

Ideal for readers curious about how early modern philosophy explains perception, belief, and the operations of the mind.

As always, it's essential that everyone who comes to the meeting reads the book in its entirety and brings something for the potluck.

Happy reading!

From Denver Philosophy Book Club