the term common sense came from the works of aristotle.
the term common sense came from the works of aristotle.
where did the term common sense come from?
the works of aristotle
common sense realism swept american intellectual circles in the 18th century. reid's philosophy was pervasive during the american revolution and served as a stabilizing philosophical influence. hailed by some as the "father of modern psychiatry," benjamin rush's tutelage at the university of edinburgh imbued him with strong realist tendencies which influenced much of his scientific and political work including his moral opposition to slavery. evidence of the influence of scottish common sense realism can readily be found in the philosophy of both thomas jefferson and john adams. adams compared the contributions of dugald stewart favorably to works of aristotle and rené descartes. scotsman and signer of the declaration of independence, john witherspoon presided over princeton university; students under his tutelage included 12 state governors, 55 delegates to the constitutional convention and future president james madison. his education at the university of edinburgh made him a strong proponent of the scottish enlightenment and realism. james mccosh (1811–94) continued the influence of scottish realism at princeton when he became president of the university in 1868, reviving its influence as a major stronghold of the movement. noah porter (1811–92) taught common sense realism to generations of students at yale.
scottish common sense realism
as mentioned above, in terms of the more general epistemological implications of common sense, modern philosophy came to use the term common sense like descartes, abandoning aristotle's theory. while descartes had distanced himself from it, john locke abandoned it more openly, while still maintaining the idea of "common sensibles" that are perceived. but then george berkeley abandoned both. david hume agreed with berkeley on this, and like locke and vico saw himself as following bacon more than descartes. in his synthesis, which he saw as the first baconian analysis of man (something the lesser known vico had claimed earlier), common sense is entirely built up from shared experience and shared innate emotions, and therefore it is indeed imperfect as a basis for any attempt to know the truth or to make the best decision. but he defended the possibility of science without absolute certainty, and consistently described common sense as giving a valid answer to the challenge of extreme skepticism. concerning such sceptics, he wrote:
common sense