AbstractReid's opposition to the representational view of mind is accompanied with some other conceptual changes in the Cartesian conceptual framework. These changes, however, fail to provide a comprehensive alternative to this framework. This is especially disturbing with respect to the causal view of mind. This paper suggests the paradigm of emergent properties as an alternative to the causal paradigm. Although this paradigm is not present in Reid's writings, it is compatible with his opposition to the representational view of mind.