Lot 263
Reid, Thomas
Essays on the Active Powers of Man
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 21 June 2023 at 11:00 BST
Description
Edinburgh: for John Bell, 1788. First edition, 4to (26 x 20.5cm), contemporary tan calf, red morocco label, edges sprinkled red, half-title, advertisement leaf, bookplate (Seton of Ekolsund), spine darkened, slight loss to head, a few quires spotted [ESTC T109117]
Footnote
Note: Thomas Reid was appointed professor of moral philosophy at Glasgow in 1764, succeeding Adam Smith, who had resigned to accompany the duke of Buccleuch on his continental tour. One of two major works Reid published in his retirement, the other being his Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man (1785), the Essays on the Active Powers of Man 'combined a defence of the concept of human free will with an attack on aspects of Hume's theory of morals. Together, the two Essays shaped the teaching of moral philosophy in Britain and America well into the nineteenth century, partly thanks to the influence of his disciple Dugald Stewart, but also because they provided the basis for a systematic account of the faculties of the mind which was both well suited to the practicalities of pedagogy and consistent with most variants of protestant theology' (ODNB).