Lectures on Natural Theology

Thomas Reid, James A. Barham, Jake Akins, James A. Barham, Jake Akins

• Publisher: Erasmus Press
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781645427070
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy & Ethics in Science

Thomas Reid (1710-1796) was one of the principal philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment. A colleague and friend of David Hume and Adam Smith, in 1764 Reid succeeded Smith to the University of Glasgow's Chair of Moral Philosophy. He is most famous for his work in epistemology, defending common sense (the exercise of our ordinary, inborn cognitive faculties) as the ultimate foundation of human knowledge.

Reid was also an important contributor to the eighteenth-century debate on natural theology, that is, the inference from the evidence of purpose in nature to the existence and attributes of God. Although he never published a separate book on this subject, Reid did give regular lectures on natural theology at the University of Glasgow, of which several sets of student notes have survived. The notes edited, annotated, and published in this volume were from a student of Reid's who attended his natural theology lectures in the spring of 1780. These lectures have important implications for the history of discussions on the relation between natural science and theology, culminating in the modern Intelligent Design debate.

The Lectures on Natural Theology were not included in the ten-volume Edinburgh Edition of Reid's collected works. Moreover, while two earlier editions of these lectures exist, both contain serious mistakes of transcription and annotation. For these reasons, this carefully revised edition of this important text fills an important gap in the literature.

INDEX

Aeneid. See Virgil

Alexander of Macedon, 27 n.28

Alphonso X of Castile, 48 n.46

Alphonzo. See Alphonso X of Castile

Ariadne’s thread, 95

Aristotle, 11 n.12

achievements as botanist, 23–24

achievements as zoologist, 27–28

on the eternity of the world, 11

Athalie (Athaliah), play by Racine, 113

atheism

causes of, 3–4

undesirable consequences of, 7–9

Augustine, St., xv

on the problem of evil, xv

Baird, George

biographical information, xix

transcriber of Reid’s Lectures, xix, xxi–xxii, and throughout

Beltistan theory, xvi, xxi, 87-88, 95, 96. See also Beltistian scheme; optimism

Beltistian scheme, xvi n.10, 87–88 n.98. See also Beltistan theory; optimism

Bible passages quoted or paraphrased

Psalms 90:2, 57

Psalms 94:9–10, 36, 61

Psalms 119:71, 109

Acts 10:34–35, 79–80

I Corinthians 13:12, 60

James 1:13, 76

Borelli, Giovanni Alfonso, 34 n.35

Butler, Joseph

Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, xii

Caesar, Gaius Julius, 28 n.29

Campbell, George, x

cause

ambiguity of the term, 82

chance, necessity, and nature as alleged causes, 51–52

properly indicates voluntary action by an agent, 52

chance

contrasted with intelligent cause, 48

incapable of producing coherent texts, 51

not really the cause of anything, 51

See also cause

Chisholm, Roderick, ix

Cicero, Marcus Tullius, 46 n.43

De Legibus (On the Laws), 116

De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods), xiii, 46, 48

Clarke, Samuel, xii, 69

Demonstration of the Being and Attrib...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Introduction
• Lecture 73
• Lecture 74
• Lecture 75
• Lecture 76
• Lecture 77
• Lecture 78
• Lecture 79
• Lecture 80
• Lecture 81
• Lecture 82
• Lecture 83
• Lecture 84
• Lecture 85
• Lecture 86
• Lecture 87
• Index