Thomas Reid about the Active Power as the Cause of Changes in the World
The main subjects of the article are the analysis of Thomas Reid’s conception concerning the “active power” and an attempt to give the definition of it on the basis of this conception. Such an examination hasn't been undertaken in Russian philosophy up to now. The goal of the article is to combine these meanings and to reveal the sense of his conception of this power by stepwise consideration of specific character of every meaning of this present power, outlined fragmentarily in his philosophical works. The investigation was carried out by the method of research of the Reid’s works, their comparison with opinions of European thinkers being engaged in the same problem during Modern Age, as well as in the light of modern critique of his philosophy. Thus the author considered his arguments against deterministic and “motivational” notions concerning activity of a human, his judgements related to distinctions of men’s deeds from actions of the rest of animals, to reflection of this power in a language, to God’s origin of it, and, at last, his reasons for human’s freedom because of it. The common contents of this notion were analyzed, and then expounded in the article’s final part; paragraphs in this part correspond with the senses of the notion. As a result, the conclusion is drawn about the active power as the cause of changes in the universe, created by a personality through free willed deeds.
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