The Psychology of Common Sense: A Diagnosis of Modern Philistinism

"This book focuses on the concept of "common sense" and is made up of articles that, while treating various topics, form a unitary whole with a single theme, namely the Leitmotif of reason. The author notes that the term "common sense" has been looked down upon as a rather loose or popular expression; however, in these pages another construction is put on the term "common sense," one that emphasizes the latter of the two words, in keeping with the investigating spirit of modern science, and corresponding to a certain phrase of the term reason, which, in its fuller denotation, comprises philosophical speculation and judgment in the ordinary conduct of life. Although the essays vary in length and style, the author considers that each of the topics covered has been fitted adequately into the framework of the common sense periscope. Not facts, so much as the method of illumination, has been concentrated upon"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).