On Cicero’s Sensus Communis : Common Sense in the Social Laboratory of Rhetoric

This article reconstructs Cicero’s original contribution to the concept of sensus communis by situating it within Roman rhetorical practice and Cicero’s broader social philosophy. Departing from Aristotle’s object-oriented and truth-seeking model of rhetoric, Cicero redefines rhetorical activity as a socially embedded, audience-oriented practice aimed at securing the welfare of the state. This shift transforms the rhetor into an orator-statesman whose task is not simply to discover truth, but to mobilise the shared norms, emotions, and expectations of the community. The article argues that Cicero’s understanding of sensus communis – a socially produced horizon of shared norms, feelings, and ways of acting – functions as a communal precondition for persuasive public reasoning. By analysing Cicero’s four personae in De Officiis, the study shows how Cicero anticipates a theory of collective subjectivity in which individuality emerges from the interplay of reason, singularity, circumstance, and judgement. Through close readings of Pro Plancio and De Oratore, the article ultimately presents sensus communis as both a mode of social belonging and a medium of self-determination within communal life.