The Danger of Misunderstanding Abstraction
The Cast:
Thomas the Illuminator (Scholasticism) 👉the true realist tradition, where universals are discovered, not invented.
Cartesius the Glassmaker (Descartes) 👉the turn toward knowledge as mental representation rather than direct discovery.
Reid the Watchman (Reid’s Common Sense Philosophy) 👉rightly rejected the mirrors of skepticism but mistakenly rejected abstraction along with it.
Pragmaticus the Engineer (Pragmatism & Constructivism) 👉the final stage: once knowledge is reduced to utility, it is no longer about truth, but power.
Thomasius the Restorer (Thomistic Realism) 👉the return to Scholastic realism, where abstraction is restored as a discovery, not a construct.
Had Reid properly understood Scholastic abstraction, he would have seen that it was the best defence against skepticism, not a gateway to it. His rejection of abstraction was less substantive and more tactical - mounted as a direct refutation of Hume in particular, which is why I covered Hume’s influence in the 2-part ‘War Of The First Cause’ before tackling the complexities of Reid’s issues with abstraction.
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