Common sense is the shared ground that makes democratic exchange possible

Evidence

Quine’s argument has been taken much further by Davidson, for whom interpreting another’s speech consists in ascribing to her broadly the same beliefs as one holds to be true oneself, on the grounds that to entertain the possibility that the speaker’s beliefs are systematically false is to deny her rationality. Even when this Principle of Charity is weakened to a Principle of Humanity which simply requires that the speaker’s beliefs be ones that it is intelligible for someone in her situation to hold rather than beliefs that the hearer herself holds to be true, the underlying thrust of the theory remains the same: interpretation involves assuming that the speaker is rational in a sense that involves setting her in the context of the world which she shares, along with their common human nature, with the hearer. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 420 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Eroded shared reality destroys the possibility of genuine disagreement. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 374; Common sense has served as democratic resistance since the American revolution — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 308; Conspicuous adherence to democratic process can re-legitimate government — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 44 (+7 more)

Related

• Collective democratic action requires a shared stock of factual and interpretive common sense. (similarity 0.84)
• Interpreting others presupposes shared rationality and a common world. (similarity 0.82)
• Common sense is a political resource against the imposition of a ruler’s single reality. (similarity 0.80)
• Eroded shared reality destroys the possibility of genuine disagreement. (similarity 0.79)
• Politics mixes expert trust with shared commonsense moral judgment, not expertise alone. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Common sense is a key route to hegemonic power in democracies #expands (0.85)
• Interpreting others presupposes shared rationality and a common world. #expands (0.85) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 420
• Effective political action requires common opinions, affections, and interests #expands (0.80)
• Cooperation requires common knowledge of mutual preferences, not just shared preferences #expands (0.75) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 105
• The belief that talk matters is a precondition of participatory democracy #qualifies (0.72) — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”, 138
• Shared values let diverse thinkers cooperate across disciplines for hegemonic ends #exemplifies (0.70) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 170