The Correspondence of Thomas Reid
Thomas Reid author Paul Wood editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Edinburgh University Press
Published:19th Nov '02
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Thomas Reid (1710-96) is now recognized as one of the towering figures of the Enlightenment. Best known for his published writings on epistemology and moral theory, he was also an accomplished mathematician and natural philosopher, as an earlier volume of his manuscripts edited by Paul Wood for the Edinburgh Reid Edition, Thomas Reid on the Animate Creation, has shown. The Correspondence of Thomas Reid collects together all of the known letters to and from Reid in a fully annotated form. Letters already published by Sir William Hamilton and others have been reedited, and roughly half of the letters included appear in print for the first time. The letters illuminate virtually every aspect of Reid's life and career, and, in some instances, provide us with invaluable evidence about activities otherwise undocumented in his manuscripts or published works. Through his correspondence we can trace his relations with contemporaries like David Hume and his colleagues at both King's College, Aberdeen, and the University of Glasgow, as well as his engagement with the most controversial philosophical, scientific and political issues of his day.The letters assembled here serve as the starting point for understanding Reid and his place in the Enlightenment.
The letters provide intriguing insights into Reid's philosophical and scientific development but, as expected when studying a body of correspondence, one is most struck by the endearing elements of personality that filter through the letters!The critical material presented by Wood is invaluable. He appends nearly sixty pages of explanatory notes to these letters in which he does everything that one could reasonably expect an editor of such a volume to do The latest volume of the Edinburgh Edition of Thomas Reid collects 103 letters from Reid, twenty-one letters addressed to him, and seven letters which are neither by Reid nor addressed to him, but which touch closely on aspects of his life or writings! thirty-four of the letters from Reid, and nineteen of those to him, are previously unpublished ! Paul Wood's beautifully edited volume [where possible] has returned to the manuscripts. The result is an exceedingly clean text of every extant letter to or from Reid. Explanatory and textual notes for each letter are given at the end of the book and are always helpful.
ISBN: 9780748611638
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 730g
356 pages