Common sense
A shared capacity for sound judgment, debated since Aristotle.
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Joyofmuseums · CC BY-SA 4.0
The term has been used both approvingly as a standard for good taste and disapprovingly as conventional wisdom or vulgar prejudice since the Age of Enlightenment.[1] A basic level of sound practical judgement that any adult human should have is what common sense is often taken to represent.[2]
Quick Facts
- Origin
- Aristotle (Ancient Greek: koinḕ aísthēsis)
- Field
- Philosophy
- rhetoric
- epistemology
- Known for
- Basic practical judgment shared by nearly all people; subject of Enlightenment debates
- Related terms
- Latin sensus communis
- French bon sens
- Ancient Greek koinḕ aísthēsis
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
The origin of the term "common sense" is in the works of Aristotle, though he used it with a very different meaning than the modern English one.[3] Aristotle's original concept referred to an internal sense within the animal soul that perceives real things from different sensory perceptions.[4] The Latin term Sensus communis developed another meaning during the Roman Empire, influenced by Stoic Greek terms like koinḕ aísthēsis and koinḗ énnoia.[5] Gilson notes that "Descartes is the source of the most common meaning of common sense today: practical judgment"[6][7]
In his work, Descartes employed two distinct terms: the Latin "sensus communis" and the French "bon sens".[8] Descartes claimed that everyone possesses a similar and sufficient amount of bon sens, though it is seldom employed effectively.[9]
What the cited sources add
Burnham's account of Kant's aesthetics explains that Kant used "common sense" to mean the a priori principle of our taste, or our feeling for the beautiful.[10] Kant argued that common sense depends on the same faculties as ordinary cognition, which make natural experience possible.[10] Burnham states that Kant believed common sense answers why aesthetic judgments are valid, because they function like ordinary cognition and thus have universal validity.[10] The Gilson source notes that Descartes gave bon sens two related meanings: the basic ability to judge true and false, and wisdom as the perfected version of that ability.[6][7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Common sense" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Common sense" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: "sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts"; Cambridge Dictionary: "the basic level o (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Common sense" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Common sense" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary of 1973 gives four meanings of "common sense": An archaic meaning is "An internal sense which was regarded as the common b (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Common sense" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 9782711601806 ("Rene Descartes"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
- Wikipedia, "Common sense" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gilson, "Discours de la méthode", 1925, p. 82 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Common sense" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: , p. 282. English is unusual in keeping one term that unites the classical and modern meanings, and philosophical and everyday meanings, so clearly. Italia (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Common sense" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Part I of the Discourse on Method. Note: The term in French is " " sometimes translated as "good sense". The opening lines in English translation read: (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Burnham, "Kant's Aesthetics". facts only, no text reused. iep.utm.edu
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Common sense (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Common sense (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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