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Full Idea
Power is a thing so much of its own kind, and so simple in its nature, as to admit of no logical definition.
Gist of Idea
Powers are quite distinct and simple, and so cannot be defined
Source
Thomas Reid (Essays on Active Powers 1: Active power [1788], 1)
Book Ref
Reid,Thomas: 'Inquiry and Essays', ed/tr. Beanblossom /K.Lehrer [Hackett 1983], p.199
A Reaction
True. And this makes Powers ideally suited for the role of primitives in a metaphysics of nature.
20051 | Reid said that agent causation is a unique type of causation [Reid, by Stout,R] |
8383 | Day and night are constantly conjoined, but they don't cause one another [Reid, by Crane] |
23664 | Powers are quite distinct and simple, and so cannot be defined [Reid] |
23666 | It is obvious that there could not be a power without a subject which possesses it [Reid] |
23665 | Consciousness is the power of mind to know itself, and minds are grounded in powers [Reid] |
23668 | Our own nature attributes free determinations to our own will [Reid] |
23667 | Regular events don't imply a cause, without an innate conviction of universal causation [Reid] |
23670 | Scientists don't know the cause of magnetism, and only discover its regulations [Reid] |
23671 | Laws are rules for effects, but these need a cause; rules of navigation don't navigate [Reid] |
23669 | Thinkers say that matter has intrinsic powers, but is also passive and acted upon [Reid] |