America and the Political Philosophy of Common Sense

1. Introduction

 1 Introduction This study considers the political significance of something called common sense philosophy. Two likely reactions to the proposed topic present themselves : Those generally skeptical about the value of philosophy for political life—those who tend to see philosophy as either vicious or useless—might say, “It’s about time! Finally, a common sense philosophy of politics!” Those of a more philosophical bent, conversely, might well say, “What! Crude common sense is precisely what philosophy wants to transcend!” The view here is that there is some validity in both responses. The basic conviction motivating this work, in fact, is that common sense without philosophy is inadequate by itself to address assaults on the foundations of society or to reinforce foundations already cracked; while philosophy, if not anchored in common sense, tends to radicalize and ultimately to corrode social order still further. More positively, the intuition is that a robust, living, cultivated common sense is a primary source of social vitality and that a vibrant intellectual culture, if rooted in common sense, can give visionary direction to society without undermining its existential conditions.1 The “common sense” in “common sense philosophy” indicates both a mode of philosophizing and its main object. The mode of philosophizing is to begin with and continually return to the immediate knowledge of reality as disclosed in primary experience, never letting speculation fly too far from that solid ground or, at least, never forgetting in our philosophical fancies that every object we know, material or mental, we know through that experience, if not always directly in it. The primary object, common sense, has multiple dimensions —from the faculty by which we perceive realities to the sense of things that human beings and particular human communities have in common. The political significance emerges from the “sense in common” element, but this is  America and the Political Philosophy of Common Sense grounded in the perception of real-world objects, material and mental, and of the necessary truths they indicate, so that every dimension of common sense is rolled up in the last. The particular context in which common sense philosophy appears is important , for the essence of common sense is to stay in close contact with life as it is lived, and for body-bound human beings, life is lived in particular places and times. The common sense philosophies examined here appeared in Englishspeaking America and are colored by specifically American experience. Yet common sense philosophy in its specifically philosophical aspect is concerned with universals, with what is always and everywhere the same, so that “American ” common sense philosophy is not simply American. American common sense philosophy may be considered both in terms of its Americanness and of the pure philosophy, if you will, that it produces. The American case may thus be taken as illustrative, especially as common sense and the form of philosophy connected with it is there highly developed. This work is concerned with all these matters, not only with the common sense mode of philosophizing but equally with common sense itself as a human phenomenon, and with both of them together as essential ingredients in forming and preserving civilized society, in the American context and in general. In the American setting this complex of thought and experience has produced what is herein called “American common sense.” The term indicates variously,first,an American way of thinking and the corresponding sense of the American community on matters of communal interest, issuing into a unique political order; second, what American thinkers have said about a universally accessible phenomenon, the thing we call “common sense,” and its implications ; and third, the actual presence of this phenomenon in the American sense and outlook and politics just mentioned. Four larger purposes animate the book. The first is to understand American thought and experience more adequately by considering how and why common sense has been a perennial concern for American philosophy, and in particular how three paradigmatic thinkers—John Witherspoon, James McCosh, and William James—exemplify “the American mind,” or the way Americans think. The second is to understand and evaluate the compatibility of the versions of common sense philosophy these thinkers present. The third is to begin to understand common sense as a feature of human experience and understanding. The fourth is to evaluate cultivated common sense as a prerequisite for healthy moral and political life and order. This last will involve, among other things, an examination of the experiential foundations of natural right and natural law, Introduction  which...