Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, August 1847Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, August 1847
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
In regard to the _second_ end which Dr Reid is supposed to have
overtaken,--the establishment of a doctrine of intuitive as opposed to a
doctrine of representative perception, it is unnecessary to say much. If
we have proved him to be a representationist, he cannot be held to be an
intuitionist. Indeed, a doctrine of intuitive perception is a sheer
impossibility upon his principles. A doctrine of intuition implies that
the mind in perceiving matter has only one, namely, a proximate object.
But the analysis of the perception of matter yields as its result, a
remote as well as a proximate object. The proximate object is the
perception--the remote object is the reality. And thus the analysis of
the given fact necessarily renders abortive every endeavour to construct
a doctrine of intuitive perception. The attempt _must_ end in
representationism. The only basis for a doctrine of intuitive perception
which will never give way, is a resolute forbearance from all analysis
of the fact. Do not tamper with it, and you are safe.
Such is the judgment which we are reluctantly compelled to pronounce on
the philosophy of Dr Reid in reference to its two cardinal claims--the
refutation of the ideal theory, and the establishment of a truer
doctrine--a doctrine of intuitive perception. In neither of these
undertakings do we think that he has succeeded, and we have exhibited
the grounds of our opinion. We do not blame him for this: he simply
missed his way at the outset. Representationism could not possibly be
avoided, neither could intuitionism be possibly fallen in with, on the
analytic road which he took.
But we have not yet done with the consideration of the psychological or
analytic doctrine of perception. We proceed to examine the entanglements
in which reason gets involved when she accepts the perception of matter
not in its natural and indissoluble unity, but as analysed by
philosophers into a mental and a material factor. We have still an eye
to Dr Reid. He came to the rescue of reason--how did it fare with him in
the struggle?
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