The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Ep. 352: Thomas Reid on Smelling and Knowledge (Part One)

On Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense (1764): the introduction, conclusion, ch. 2 "Of Smelling" ch. 4 "Of Hearing," and some correspondence between Reid and Hume. According to Reid, the big mistake of "modern" philosophy is thinking that objects in the world need to resemble the sensations we have of them. Smelling is supposed to give us an obvious counter-example: the scent of a rose in no way resembles a physical rose. Get more at <a href="https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/">partiallyexaminedlife.com</a>. Visit <a href="https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/support" rel="noopener" target="_blank">partiallyexaminedlife.com/support</a> to get ad-free episodes and bonus content. Sponsors: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at <a href="https://shopify.com/pel" rel="noopener" target="_blank">shopify.com/pel.</a> Check out the <a href="https://www.byuradio.org/constant-wonder" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Constant Wonder podcast</a>.

The Partially Examined Life is a podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a short text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don't have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we're talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion. For links to the texts we discuss and other info, check out www.partiallyexaminedlife.com.

We also feature episodes from other podcasts by our hosts to round out your partially examined life, including Pretty Much Pop (prettymuchpop.com, covering all media), Nakedly Examined Music (nakedlyexaminedmusic.com, deconstructing songs), Philosophy vs. Improv (philosophyimprov.com, fun with performance skills and philosophical ideas), and (sub)Text (subtextpodcast.com, looking deeply at lit and film). Learn about more network podcasts at partiallyexaminedlife.com.