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How might Reid refute Kant’s notion of Causality?

Thomas Reid, subscribing to a form of philosophical realism known as “common sense realism” or the “Scottish School of Common Sense,” would likely refute Immanuel Kant’s view of causality by emphasizing the immediacy and reliability of sense perception. Reid believed that our senses give us direct access to the external world, including causal relationships. Here’s how Reid might construct his argument:

  1. Human beings possess a faculty of common sense that allows them to perceive the world directly, without the need for complex mental categories or constructs.
  2. The principle of causality is self-evident and rooted in our direct experiences; we observe that certain events consistently follow others in the external world, not just in our minds.
  3. Kant’s view that causality is a mental category imposed upon our experience unnecessarily complicates what is a fundamental and self-evident feature of the world.
  4. If causality were merely a category of human thought and not reflective of the external world, we would not be able to act and make predictions effectively based on our observations.
  5. Hence, common sense and our successful interactions with the world refute the notion that causality is a mere mental construct.