Scottish Common Sense Realism

E223994

epistemological theory philosophical movement school of Scottish philosophy

Scottish Common Sense Realism is an 18th–19th century philosophical movement, associated with thinkers like Thomas Reid, that emphasizes the reliability of ordinary human perception and common-sense beliefs as the foundation for knowledge and was highly influential in Protestant theology and American thought.

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All labels observed (10)

Label	Occurrences
Scottish Common Sense Realism canonical	6
Scottish common sense realism	6
Scottish School of Common Sense	2
Scottish common sense philosophy	2
common sense realism	2
Scottish Common Sense philosophers	1
Scottish Common Sense philosophy	1
Scottish Common Sense realism	1
Scottish Common Sense school	1
Scottish common sense philosophers	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2001551 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Scottish Common Sense Realism
Context triple: [The Christian System, influencedBy, Scottish Common Sense Realism]

A. Metaphysics and Common Sense
Metaphysics and Common Sense is a philosophical work by A. J. Ayer in which he applies his logical empiricist approach to critique traditional metaphysical claims and defend a commonsense view of reality.
B. Platonism
Platonism is a philosophical doctrine rooted in Plato’s ideas, emphasizing the existence of abstract, non-material Forms or universals as the most real and fundamental aspects of reality.
C. Strawsonian tradition in metaphysics
The Strawsonian tradition in metaphysics is an approach rooted in P. F. Strawson’s work that emphasizes descriptive metaphysics, focusing on clarifying the fundamental conceptual framework underlying our ordinary thought and discourse rather than constructing revisionary ontological systems.
D. Empiricism
Empiricism is a philosophical doctrine that holds that all or most human knowledge arises from sensory experience rather than innate ideas or pure reason.
E. Reformed epistemology
Reformed epistemology is a school of thought in religious epistemology that argues belief in God can be rational and properly basic without requiring inferential evidence or arguments.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Scottish Common Sense Realism
Target entity description: Scottish Common Sense Realism is an 18th–19th century philosophical movement, associated with thinkers like Thomas Reid, that emphasizes the reliability of ordinary human perception and common-sense beliefs as the foundation for knowledge and was highly influential in Protestant theology and American thought.

A. Metaphysics and Common Sense
Metaphysics and Common Sense is a philosophical work by A. J. Ayer in which he applies his logical empiricist approach to critique traditional metaphysical claims and defend a commonsense view of reality.
B. Platonism
Platonism is a philosophical doctrine rooted in Plato’s ideas, emphasizing the existence of abstract, non-material Forms or universals as the most real and fundamental aspects of reality.
C. Strawsonian tradition in metaphysics
The Strawsonian tradition in metaphysics is an approach rooted in P. F. Strawson’s work that emphasizes descriptive metaphysics, focusing on clarifying the fundamental conceptual framework underlying our ordinary thought and discourse rather than constructing revisionary ontological systems.
D. Empiricism
Empiricism is a philosophical doctrine that holds that all or most human knowledge arises from sensory experience rather than innate ideas or pure reason.
E. Reformed epistemology
Reformed epistemology is a school of thought in religious epistemology that argues belief in God can be rational and properly basic without requiring inferential evidence or arguments.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	epistemological theory ⓘ philosophical movement ⓘ school of Scottish philosophy ⓘ
associatedWith	Scottish Enlightenment ⓘ University of Edinburgh ⓘ University of Glasgow ⓘ
coreIdea	certain basic beliefs are properly basic and do not require proof ⓘ common-sense beliefs provide a foundation for knowledge ⓘ moral truths can be known by common sense ⓘ ordinary human perception is generally reliable ⓘ our cognitive faculties are generally trustworthy ⓘ perception gives direct awareness of external objects ⓘ skeptical doubts about the external world are unreasonable ⓘ the external world exists independently of our minds ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Scotland ⓘ
historicalContext	developed partly in response to David Hume ⓘ emerged during the Scottish Enlightenment ⓘ
influenced	19th-century American common-sense philosophy ⓘ American Presbyterianism ⓘ linked to: Presbyterian American evangelical thought ⓘ American legal thought ⓘ American philosophy ⓘ Princeton theology ⓘ linked to: Old Princeton theology Protestant theology ⓘ Reformed theology in the United States ⓘ
influencedBy	Aristotelian realism ⓘ Scottish Enlightenment ⓘ Thomas Reid ⓘ early modern empiricism ⓘ
keyConcept	direct realism ⓘ first principles of common sense ⓘ moral sense ⓘ properly basic beliefs ⓘ
mainProponent	Dugald Stewart ⓘ George Campbell ⓘ James Beattie ⓘ Thomas Reid ⓘ
opposes	Cartesian doubt ⓘ Humean skepticism ⓘ linked to: Of Scepticism and Other Systems of Philosophy radical skepticism ⓘ subjective idealism ⓘ
philosophicalDiscipline	epistemology ⓘ metaphysics ⓘ moral philosophy ⓘ philosophy of mind ⓘ
timePeriod	18th century ⓘ 19th century ⓘ
usedIn	19th-century American seminary education ⓘ Protestant apologetics ⓘ

How these facts were elicited