more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
What is common in the structure of languages, indicates an uniformity of opinion in those things upon which that structure is grounded.
Gist of Idea
The structure of languages reveals a uniformity in basic human opinions
Source
Thomas Reid (Essays on Intellectual Powers 6: Judgement [1785], 4)
Book Ref
Reid,Thomas: 'Inquiry and Essays', ed/tr. Beanblossom /K.Lehrer [Hackett 1983], p.265
A Reaction
Reid was more interested than his contemporaries in the role of language in philosophy. The first idea sounds like Chomsky. I would add to this that the uniformity of common opinion reflects uniformities in the world they are talking about.
| 6712 | For Locke, abstract ideas are our main superiority of understanding over animals [Locke, by Berkeley] |
| 23656 | The structure of languages reveals a uniformity in basic human opinions [Reid] |
| 6393 | A creature doesn't think unless it interprets another's speech [Davidson] |
| 18538 | Non-conscious thought may be unlike conscious thought [Heil] |
| 18537 | Linguistic thought is just as imagistic as non-linguistic thought [Heil] |
| 17768 | Perception reveals what animals think, but humans can disengage thought from perception [Bayne] |
| 17769 | Some people centre space on themselves; others centre space on the earth [Bayne] |