Compared to Aristotle and his strictest medieval disciples, these Roman authors were not so strict on the line between animal common sense and especially human thought. As discussed above, Aristotle had tried to make a clear distinction between, on the one hand, imagination and sensory perception, both of which use the sensible koiná, and which animals also have; and on the other hand, noûs (intellect) and reason, which perceives another type of koiná, the comprehensible forms that (according to Aristotle) only humans have. In other words, these Romans allowed humans to have a common animal-like understanding of reality, not only in terms of memories of sensory perceptions, but also in terms of how they tended to explain things and in the language they used. [41] In the Enlightenment, Descartes` insistence on a mathematical way of thinking skeptical of common sense and sensory perception was somewhat accepted, but also criticized. On the one hand, Descartes` approach is and has been seen as radically skeptical in some respects. On the other hand, like the scholastics before him, while Descartes was cautious with common sense, we saw rather that he relied too much on undetectable metaphysical hypotheses to justify his method, especially in his separation of mind and body (with the sensus communis) that connects them). Cartesians such as Henricus Regius, Geraud de Cordemoy and Nicolas Malebranche realized that Descartes` logic could provide no evidence of the “outside world,” which meant that it had to be taken by faith. [53] Although his own proposed solution was even more controversial, Berkeley wrote that the Enlightenment demanded a “revolt of metaphysical notions to the simple commandments of nature and common sense.” [54] Descartes and the Cartesian “rationalists” rejected the use of experience, senses, and inductive reasoning, and seemed to insist that certainty was possible. The alternative to induction, deductive reasoning, required a mathematical approach based on simple and safe assumptions. This, in turn, forced Descartes (and later rationalists like Kant) to assume the existence of innate or “a priori” knowledge in the human mind – a controversial proposition. Use common sense by rationing your fire signals, but don`t be stingy with the whistle.
“Sensus communis” is the Latin translation of the Greek koinḕ aísthēsis, which was restored by medieval scholastics in the discussion of Aristotelian theories of perception. By early Latin, during the Roman Empire, however, the term had taken a clear ethical detour and developed new nuances of meaning. These predominantly Roman meanings were apparently influenced by several Stoic Greek terms with the word koinḗ (κοινή, “together, together”); Not only koinḕ aísthēsis, but also terms like koinós noûs (κοινός νοῦς, “common mind/thought/reason”), koinḗ énnoia (κοινή ἔννοιᾰ), and koinonoēmosúnē, all of which include noûs—something, at least in Aristotle, that would not be present in “inferior” animals. [29] Thus, after Descartes, critical attention shifted from Aristotle and his theory of perception and more towards Descartes` treatment of common sense, for which several 18th century authors found help in Roman literature. In his rhetoric, for example, Aristotle mentions “koinōn . tàs písteis” or “common beliefs” that “our evidence and arguments must be based on generally accepted principles, […] when we talk about talking to the crowd.” [33] In a similar passage from his own work on rhetoric, De Oratore, Cicero wrote that “in oratory, the true cardinal sin is to depart from the language of everyday life and from the usage approved by the sense of communion.” The sense of community in this case is a translation of “communis sensus” into Latin by Cicero. [34] [35] I think it just makes sense that the most important customer base that is probably the most important to any CEO is their employees. In its mature version, Vico`s concept of sensus communis is defined by him as “judgment without reflection, divided by an entire class, a whole people and an entire nation, or the whole of humanity.” Vico proposed his own anti-Cartesian methodology for a new Baconian science, inspired, as he said, by Plato, Tacitus,[69] Francis Bacon, and Grotius.
In doing so, he went further than his predecessors in terms of old certainties available in vulgar common sense. According to his new science, it is necessary to find common sense shared by different peoples and nations. He made it the basis for a new, more enlightened approach to the discussion of natural law, and improved Grotius, John Selden, and Pufendorf, who, in his opinion, could not convince because they could not claim the authority of nature. Unlike Grotius, Vico went beyond the search for a unique set of similarities between nations, but also established rules about how natural law changes correctly when peoples change, and must be judged in relation to this level of development. Thus, he developed a detailed vision of an evolutionary wisdom of peoples. The ancient forgotten wisdom, he argued, could be rediscovered by analyzing the languages and myths created under their influence. [70] This is comparable to both Montesquieu`s Spirit of the Laws and much later Hegelian historicism, which apparently developed without knowledge of Vico`s work. [71] “Common sense” has at least two specific philosophical meanings. One is the ability of the animal soul (ψῡχή, psūkhḗ), proposed by Aristotle, to explain how the different senses come together and allow the distinction of certain objects between humans and other animals.
This common sense is different from basic sensory perception and human rational thought, but cooperates with both. A second philosophical use of the term is influenced by the Romans and is used for natural human sensitivity to other people and community. [3] Just like the everyday meaning, both refer to a kind of basic awareness and discernment that most people are expected to share naturally, even if they can`t explain why. All these meanings of “common sense,” including everyday ones, are intertwined in a complex history and have evolved during important political and philosophical debates in modern Western civilization, particularly with regard to science, politics, and economics. [4] The interaction of meanings became particularly remarkable in English, unlike other Western European languages, and the term English became international. [5] Schaeffer (1990, p. 2) writes that “Descartes is today the source of the most common sense of common sense: practical judgment.” Gilson noted that Descartes actually gave common sense to two related meanings, first, the fundamental and widespread ability to judge true and false, which he also calls raison d`être (lit. “reason”); and second, wisdom, the perfected version of the first. The Latin term used by Descartes is bona mens (lit.
“good spirit”), derives from the stoic author Seneca, who used it only in the second sense.