Common Sense and Uncommon Sense

The term 'Common Sense' in my title refers in the fi rst instance to that type of thinking developed in eighteenth century Scotland, known in the histories of philosophy as 'The Common Sense School'.I fi rst became acquainted with the Common Sense School when I attended the class on Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, where its instigator, Thomas Reid, professed it for years.Not that it was taught as such in that Moral Philosophy class, but its atmosphere was still in the air, as I realised more and more in the course of my own investigations.The fact is that I spent most of my time at Glasgow University in the Library, reading up in all kinds of matters, running from geology to metaphysics, from astronomy to aesthetics, and it was in the course of this polymorphous research that I came across Reid's Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense.I may as well confess at the outstart that I found it heavy going and was inclined to dismiss it as what I called 'pulpit philosophy'.But it had obviously exercised a considerable infl uence in Scotland, and, as I discovered later, in a certain sector of France, so I conscientiously persevered.I bought a secondhand copy of the Inquiry for my ever-growing personal library, and added to it, during a trip to France, a very neat three-volume edition of Éléments de la philosophie de l'esprit humain (Elements of the philosophy of the human mind ) by Dugald Stewart, Reid's pupil and continuer.Maybe, before going further into the fi eld, I should touch on that infl uence of Scottish Common Sense thought in France, which some upholders of Common Sense in Scotland make much of.I don't deny the fact, or neglect it.But it has to be put in perspective.If this philosophy was a ponderous presence in the schools and universities of France throughout the nineteenth century, it was because Napoleon, in his imperial status, was intent on removing France from revolutionary ferment and radical thinking into a subdued enclosure.This was, in part, successful, at least on the surface, but the movement of real French intelligence and genius went on.