Common sense is a political resource against the imposition of a ruler’s single reality.
Evidence
Common sense refers to shared perceptions, experiences, and moral sensibilities, which make democracy possible. Because we share them, we can reflect on them and refer to them in our arguments and assessments and political decisions. Common sense creates a world in which it is possible for people to exchange reasons and feelings that “make sense” to one another—even under conditions of diversity and political conflict. Common sense is a resource against the tyranny that imposes its own reality. This is why Arendt called common sense “the political sense par excellence.” — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 290
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to Arendt’s sensus communis and her analysis of totalitarian reality-ownership, echoing themes from the Frankfurt School texts. — connects to: Imposing a compromised reality ends democratic politics by destroying common sense — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 278; Collective democratic action requires a shared stock of factual and interpretive common sense. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 288; Common sense is defined against elites’ esoteric knowledge claims — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 310 (+6 more)
Broader Connections
- Paine’s common sense was a democratic resource against established power
#exemplifies(0.90) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 308 - Common sense is defined against elites’ esoteric knowledge claims
#expands(0.85) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 310 - Appeals to common sense and proportion serve reigning power, not truth
#contradicts(0.85) — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 84 - Common sense is a key route to hegemonic power in democracies
#expands(0.80) - Becoming common sense is a key route to hegemonic power
#expands(0.80) - Colonial governance operated by deliberately shaping common sense and suppressing uncommon sense.
#complicates(0.75) — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 241 - Common sense is conservative so new truths entering it prove exceptional force
#qualifies(0.75) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1513