Common sense by Art Williams, 1985, Parklake edition. Are you sure you want to remove Common sense from your list? There's no description for this book yet. Also wrote Common Sense; Pushing Up People; All You Can Do Is All You Can Do, But All You Can Do Is Enough (which was on the New York Times bestseller list in 1988) Founder, A.L. Williams Co., revolutionized the term life insurance industry. Mississippi State University and a M.A. In education from Auburn University.

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Common sense is sound practical judgment concerning everyday matters, or a basic ability to perceive, understand, and judge that is shared by ('common to') nearly all people.^[1] The first type of common sense, good sense, can be described as 'the knack for seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.' The second type is sometimes described as folk wisdom, 'signifying unreflective knowledge not reliant on specialized training or deliberative thought.' The two types are intertwined, as the person who has common sense is in touch with common-sense ideas, which emerge from the lived experiences of those commonsensical enough to perceive them.^[2]

In a psychology context, Smedslund defines common sense as 'the system of implications shared by the competent users of a language' and notes, 'A proposition in a given context belongs to common sense if and only if all competent users of the language involved agree that the proposition in the given context is true and that its negation is false.'^[3]

The everyday understanding of common sense derives from historical philosophical discussion involving several European languages. Related terms in other languages include Latin sensus communis, Greek αἴσθησις κοινὴ (aísthēsis koinḕ), and French bon sens, but these are not straightforward translations in all contexts. Similarly in English, there are different shades of meaning, implying more or less education and wisdom: 'good sense' is sometimes seen as equivalent to 'common sense', and sometimes not.^[4]

'Common sense' also has at least two specifically philosophical meanings. One is a capability of the animal soul (ψῡχή, psūkhḗ) proposed by Aristotle, which enables different individual senses to collectively perceive the characteristics of physical things such as movement and size, which all physical things have in different combinations, allowing people and other animals to distinguish and identify physical things. This common sense is distinct from basic sensory perception and from human rational thinking, but cooperates with both.

The second special use of the term is Roman-influenced and is used for the natural human sensitivity for other humans and the community.^[5] Just like the everyday meaning, both of these refer to a type of basic awareness and ability to judge that most people are expected to share naturally, even if they cannot explain why.

All these meanings of 'common sense', including the everyday ones, are interconnected in a complex history and have evolved during important political and philosophical debates in modern Western civilisation, notably concerning science, politics and economics.^[6] The interplay between the meanings has come to be particularly notable in English, as opposed to other western European languages, and the English term has become international.^[7]

Since the Age of Enlightenment the term 'common sense' has frequently been used for rhetorical effect, sometimes pejorative, and sometimes appealed to positively, as an authority. It can be negatively equated to vulgar prejudice and superstition, it is often positively contrasted to them as a standard for good taste and as the source of the most basic axioms needed for science and logic.^[8] It was at the beginning of the eighteenth century that this old philosophical term first acquired its modern English meaning: 'Those plain, self-evident truths or conventional wisdom that one needed no sophistication to grasp and no proof to accept precisely because they accorded so well with the basic (common sense) intellectual capacities and experiences of the whole social body' ^[9]This began with Descartes' criticism of it, and what came to be known as the dispute between 'rationalism' and 'empiricism'. In the opening line of one of his most famous books, Discourse on Method, Descartes established the most common modern meaning, and its controversies, when he stated that everyone has a similar and sufficient amount of common sense (bon sens), but it is rarely used well. Therefore, a skeptical logical method described by Descartes needs to be followed and common sense should not be overly relied upon.^[10] In the ensuing 18th century Enlightenment, common sense came to be seen more positively as the basis for modern thinking. It was contrasted to metaphysics, which was, like Cartesianism, associated with the Ancien Régime. Thomas Paine's polemical pamphlet Common Sense (1776) has been described as the most influential political pamphlet of the 18th century, affecting both the American and French revolutions.^[8] Today, the concept of common sense, and how it should best be used, remains linked to many of the most perennial topics in epistemology and ethics, with special focus often directed at the philosophy of the modern social sciences.

• 4The Enlightenment after Descartes
• 6Contemporary philosophy

Aristotelian[edit]

The origin of the term is in the works of Aristotle. The best-known case is De AnimaBook III, chapter 1, especially at line 425a27.^[11] The passage is about how the animal mind converts raw sense perceptions from the five specializedsense perceptions, into perceptions of real things moving and changing, which can be thought about. According to Aristotle's understanding of perception, each of the five senses perceives one type of 'perceptible' or 'sensible' which is specific (ἴδια, idia) to it. For example, sight can see colour. But Aristotle was explaining how the animal mind, not just the human mind, links and categorizes different tastes, colours, feelings, smells and sounds in order to perceive real things in terms of the 'common sensibles' (or 'common perceptibles'). In this discussion, 'common' (κοινή, koiné) is a term opposed to specific or particular (idia). The Greek for these common sensibles is tá koiná (τά κοινᾰ́, lit. 'that which is common to many'), which means shared or common things, and examples include the oneness of each thing, with its specific shape and size and so on, and the change or movement of each thing.^[12] Distinct combinations of these properties are common to all perceived things.^[13]

In this passage, Aristotle explained that concerning these koiná (such as movement) we already have a sense, a 'common sense' or sense of the common things (aísthēsis koinḕ), which does not work by accident (κᾰτᾰ́ σῠμβεβηκός, katá sumbebēkós). And there is no specific (idéā) sense perception for movement and other koiná, because then we would not perceive the koiná at all, except by accident. As examples of perceiving by accident Aristotle mentions using the specific sense perception vision on its own to see that something is sweet, or to recognize a friend by their distinctive color. Lee (2011, p. 31) explains that 'when I see Socrates, it is not insofar as he is Socrates that he is visible to my eye, but rather because he is coloured'. So the normal five individual senses do sense the common perceptibles according to Aristotle (and Plato), but it is not something they necessarily interpret correctly on their own. Aristotle proposes that the reason for having several senses is in fact that it increases the chances that we can distinguish and recognize things correctly, and not just occasionally or by accident.^[14] Each sense is used to identify distinctions, such as sight identifying the difference between black and white, but, says Aristotle, all animals with perception must have 'some one thing' that can distinguish black from sweet.^[15] The common sense is where this comparison happens, and this must occur by comparing impressions (or symbols or markers; σημεῖον, sēmeîon, lit. 'sign, mark') of what the specialist senses have perceived.^[16] The common sense is therefore also where a type of consciousness originates, 'for it makes us aware of having sensations at all'. And it receives physical picture imprints from the imaginative faculty, which are then memories that can be recollected.^[17]

The discussion was apparently intended to improve upon the account of Aristotle's friend and teacher Plato in his Socratic dialogue, the Theaetetus.^[18] But Plato's dialogue presented an argument that recognizing koiná is an active thinking process in the rational part of the human soul, making the senses instruments of the thinking part of man. Plato's Socrates says this kind of thinking is not a kind of sense at all. Aristotle, trying to give a more general account of the souls of all animals, not just humans, moved the act of perception out of the rational thinking soul into this sensus communis, which is something like a sense, and something like thinking, but not rational.^[19]

The passage is difficult to interpret and there is little consensus about many of the details.^[20]Gregorić (2007, pp. 204–205) has argued that this may be because Aristotle did not use the term as a standardized technical term at all. For example, in some passages in his works, Aristotle seems to use the term to refer to the individual sense perceptions simply being common to all people, or common to various types of animals. There is also difficulty with trying to determine whether the common sense is truly separable from the individual sense perceptions and from imagination, in anything other than a conceptual way as a capability. Aristotle never fully spells out the relationship between the common sense and the imaginative faculty (φᾰντᾰσῐ́ᾱ, phantasíā), although the two clearly work together in animals, and not only humans, for example in order to enable a perception of time. They may even be the same.^[17][19] Despite hints by Aristotle himself that they were united, early commentators such as Alexander of Aphrodisias and Al-Farabi felt they were distinct, but later, Avicenna emphasized the link, influencing future authors including Christian philosophers.^[21][22]Gregorić (2007, p. 205) argues that Aristotle used the term 'common sense' both to discuss the individual senses when these act as a unity, which Gregorić calls 'the perceptual capacity of the soul', or the higher level 'sensory capacity of the soul' that represents the senses and the imagination working as a unity. According to Gregorić, there appears to have been a standardization of the term koinḕ aísthēsis as a term for the perceptual capacity (not the higher level sensory capacity), which occurred by the time of Alexander of Aphrodisias at the latest.^[23]

Compared to Plato, Aristotle's understanding of the soul (psūkhḗ) has an extra level of complexity in the form of the noûs or 'intellect'—which is something only humans have and enables humans to perceive things differently from other animals. It works with images coming from the common sense and imagination, using reasoning (λόγος, lógos) as well as the active intellect. The noûs identifies the true forms of things, while the common sense identifies shared aspects of things. Though scholars have varying interpretations of the details, Aristotle's 'common sense' was in any case not rational, in the sense that it implied no ability to explain the perception. Reason or rationality (lógos) exists only in man according to Aristotle, and yet some animals can perceive 'common perceptibles' such as change and shape, and some even have imagination according to Aristotle. Animals with imagination come closest to having something like reasoning and noûs.^[24] Plato, on the other hand was apparently willing to allow that animals could have some level of thought, meaning that he did not have to explain their sometimes complex behavior with a strict division between high-level perception processing and the human-like thinking such as being able to form opinions.^[25] Gregorić additionally argues that Aristotle can be interpreted as using the verbs phroneîn and noeîn to distinguish two types of thinking or awareness, the first being found in animals and the second unique to humans and involving reason.^[26] Therefore, in Aristotle (and the medieval Aristotelians) the universals used to identify and categorize things are divided into two. In medieval terminology these are the species sensibilis used for perception and imagination in animals, and the species intelligibilis or apprehendable forms used in the human intellect or noûs.

Aristotle also occasionally called the koinḕ aísthēsis (or one version of it) the prôton aisthētikón (πρῶτον αἰσθητῐκόν, lit. 'first of the senses'). (According to Gregorić, this is specifically in contexts where it refers to the higher order common sense that includes imagination.) Later philosophers developing this line of thought, such as Themistius, Galen, and Al-Farabi, called it the ruler of the senses or ruling sense, apparently a metaphor developed from a section of Plato's Timaeus (70b).^[22]Augustine and some of the Arab writers, also called it the 'inner sense'.^[21] The concept of the inner senses, plural, was further developed in the Middle Ages. Under the influence of the great Persian philosophers Al-Farabi and Avicenna, several inner senses came to be listed. 'Thomas Aquinas and John of Jandun recognized four internal senses: the common sense, imagination, vis cogitativa, and memory. Avicenna, followed by Robert Grosseteste, Albert the Great, and Roger Bacon, argued for five internal senses: the common sense, imagination, fantasy, vis aestimativa, and memory.'^[27] By the time of Descartes and Hobbes, in the 1600s, the inner senses had been standardized to five wits, which complemented the more well-known five 'external' senses.^[21] Under this medieval scheme the common sense was understood to be seated not in the heart, as Aristotle had thought, but in the anterior Galenicventricle of the brain. The great anatomist Andreas Vesalius however found no connections between the anterior ventricle and the sensory nerves, leading to speculation about other parts of the brain into the 1600s.^[28]

Heller-Roazen (2008) writes that 'In different ways the philosophers of medieval Latin and Arabic tradition, from Al-Farabi to Avicenna, Averroës, Albert, and Thomas, found in the De Anima and the Parva Naturalia the scattered elements of a coherent doctrine of the 'central' faculty of the sensuous soul.'^[29] It was 'one of the most successful and resilient of Aristotelian notions.'^[30]

Roman[edit]

'Sensus communis' is the Latin translation of the Greek koinḕ aísthēsis, which came to be recovered by Medieval scholastics when discussing Aristotelian theories of perception. However, in earlier Latin during the Roman empire the term had taken a distinct ethical detour, developing new shades of meaning. These especially Roman meanings were apparently influenced by several Stoic Greek terms with the word koinḗ (κοινή, lit. 'common, shared'); not only koinḕ aísthēsis, but also such terms as koinós noûs (κοινός νοῦς, lit. 'common mind/thought/reason') koinḗ énnoia (κοινή ἔννοιᾰ), and koinonoēmosúnē, all of which involve noûs—something, at least in Aristotle, that would not be present in 'lower' animals.^[31]

• Koinḗ énnoia is a term from Stoic philosophy, a Greek philosophy, influenced by Aristotle, and influential in Rome. This refers to shared notions, or common conceptions, that are either in-born or imprinted by the senses on to the soul. Unfortunately few true Stoic texts survive, and our understanding of their technical terminology is limited.^[32]
• Koinós noûs is a term found in Epictetus (III.vi.8), a Stoic philosopher. C.S. Lewis (1967, p. 146) believed this to be close to a modern English meaning of 'common sense', 'the elementary mental outfit of the normal man', something like intelligence. He noted that sensus could be a translation of noûs, (for example in the Vulgate Bible), but he only found one clear case of a Latin text showing this apparent meaning, a text by Phaedrus the fable writer.
• Koinonoēmosúnē is found only in the work of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (Meditations I.16), also known as a Stoic. (He uses the word on its own in a list of things he learned from his adopted father.) Shaftesbury and others felt it represented the Stoic Greek original, which gave the special Roman meaning of sensus communis, especially when used to refer to someone's public spirit. Shaftesbury explained the change of meaning as being due to the specific way that Stoics understood perception and intellect, saying that one should 'consider withal how small the distinction was in that Philosophy, between the ὑπόληψις [conjecture], and the vulgar αἴσθησις [perception]; how generally Passion was by those Philosophers brought under the Head of Opinion'.^[33]

Another link between Latin communis sensus and Aristotle's Greek was in rhetoric, a subject that Aristotle was the first to systematize. In rhetoric, a prudent speaker must take account of opinions (δόξαι, dóxai) that are widely held.^[34] Aristotle referred to such commonly held beliefs not as koinaí dóxai (κοιναί δόξαι, lit. 'common opinions'), which is a term he used for self-evident logical axioms, but with other terms such as éndóxa (ἔνδόξα).

In his Rhetoric for example Aristotle mentions 'koinōn [...] tàs písteis' or 'common beliefs', saying that 'our proofs and arguments must rest on generally accepted principles, [...] when speaking of converse with the multitude'.^[35] In a similar passage in his own work on rhetoric, De Oratore, Cicero wrote that 'in oratory the very cardinal sin is to depart from the language of everyday life and the usage approved by the sense of the community'. The sense of the community is in this case one translation of 'communis sensus' in the Latin of Cicero.^[36][37]

Whether the Latin writers such as Cicero deliberately used this Aristotelian term in a new more peculiarly Roman way, probably also influenced by Greek Stoicism, therefore remains a subject of discussion. Schaeffer (1990, p. 112) has proposed for example that the Roman republic maintained a very 'oral' culture whereas in Aristotle's time rhetoric had come under heavy criticism from philosophers such as Socrates. Peters Agnew (2008) argues, in agreement with Shaftesbury in the 18th century, that the concept developed from the Stoic concept of ethical virtue, influenced by Aristotle, but emphasizing the role of both the individual perception, and shared communal understanding. But in any case a complex of ideas attached itself to the term, to be almost forgotten in the Middle Ages, and eventually returning into ethical discussion in 18th-century Europe, after Descartes.

As with other meanings of common sense, for the Romans of the classical era 'it designates a sensibility shared by all, from which one may deduce a number of fundamental judgments, that need not, or cannot, be questioned by rational reflection'.^[38] But even though Cicero did at least once use the term in a manuscript on Plato's Timaeus (concerning a primordial 'sense, one and common for all [...] connected with nature'), he and other Roman authors did not normally use it as a technical term limited to discussion about sense perception, as Aristotle apparently had in De Anima, and as the Scholastics later would in the Middle Ages.^[39] Instead of referring to all animal judgment, it was used to describe pre-rational, widely shared human beliefs, and therefore it was a near equivalent to the concept of humanitas. This was a term that could be used by Romans to imply not only human nature, but also humane conduct, good breeding, refined manners, and so on.^[40] Apart from Cicero, Quintilian, Lucretius, Seneca, Horace and some of the most influential Roman authors influenced by Aristotle's rhetoric and philosophy used the Latin term 'sensus communis' in a range of such ways.^[41] As C. S. Lewis wrote:

Quintilian says it is better to send a boy to school than to have a private tutor for him at home; for if he is kept away from the herd (congressus) how will he ever learn that sensus which we call communis? (I, ii, 20). On the lowest level it means tact. In Horace the man who talks to you when you obviously don't want to talk lacks communis sensus.^[42]

Compared to Aristotle and his strictest medieval followers, these Roman authors were not so strict about the boundary between animal-like common sense and specially human reasoning. As discussed above, Aristotle had attempted to make a clear distinction between, on the one hand, imagination and the sense perception which both use the sensible koiná, and which animals also have; and, on the other hand, noûs (intellect) and reason, which perceives another type of koiná, the intelligible forms, which (according to Aristotle) only humans have. In other words, these Romans allowed that people could have animal-like shared understandings of reality, not just in terms of memories of sense perceptions, but in terms of the way they would tend to explain things, and in the language they use.^[43]

Cartesian[edit]

One of the last notable philosophers to accept something like the Aristotelian 'common sense' was Descartes in the 17th century, but he also undermined it. He described this inner faculty when writing in Latin in his Meditations on first philosophy.^[44] The common sense is the link between the body and its senses, and the true human mind, which according to Descartes must be purely immaterial. Unlike Aristotle, who had placed it in the heart, by the time of Descartes this faculty was thought to be in the brain, and he located it in the pineal gland.^[45] Descartes' judgement of this common sense was that it was enough to persuade the human consciousness of the existence of physical things, but often in a very indistinct way. To get a more distinct understanding of things, it is more important to be methodical and mathematical.^[46] This line of thought was taken further, if not by Descartes himself then by those he influenced, until the concept of a faculty or organ of common sense was itself rejected.

René Descartes is generally credited with making obsolete the notion that there was an actual faculty within the human brain that functioned as a sensus communis. The French philosopher did not fully reject the idea of the inner senses, which he appropriated from the Scholastics. But he distanced himself from the Aristotelian conception of a common sense faculty, abandoning it entirely by the time of his Passions of the Soul (1649).^[47]

Contemporaries such as Gassendi and Hobbes went beyond Descartes in some ways in their rejection of Aristotelianism, rejecting explanations involving anything other than matter and motion, including the distinction between the animal-like judgement of sense perception, a special separate common sense, and the human mind or noûs, which Descartes had retained from Aristotelianism.^[48] In contrast to Descartes who 'found it unacceptable to assume that sensory representations may enter the mental realm from without'...

According to Hobbes [...] man is no different from the other animals. [...] Hobbes' philosophy constituted a more profound rupture with Peripatetic thought. He accepted mental representations but [...] 'All sense is fancy', as Hobbes famously put it, with the only exception of extension and motion.^[49]

But Descartes used two different terms in his work, not only the Latin term 'sensus communis', but also the French term bon sens, with which he opens his Discourse on Method. And this second concept survived better. This work was written in French, and does not directly discuss the Aristotelian technical theory of perception. Bon sens is the equivalent of modern English 'common sense' or 'good sense'. As the Aristotelian meaning of the Latin term began to be forgotten after Descartes, his discussion of bon sens gave a new way of defining sensus communis in various European languages (including Latin, even though Descartes himself did not translate bon sens as sensus communis, but treated them as two separate things).^[50]

Schaeffer (1990, p. 2) writes that 'Descartes is the source of the most common meaning of common sense today: practical judgment'. Gilson noted that Descartes actually gave bon sens two related meanings, first the basic and widely shared ability to judge true and false, which he also calls raison (lit. 'reason'); and second, wisdom, the perfected version of the first. The Latin term Descartes uses, bona mens (lit. 'good mind'), derives from the Stoic author Seneca who only used it in the second sense. Descartes was being original.^[51]

The idea that now became influential, developed in both the Latin and French works of Descartes, though coming from different directions, is that common good sense (and indeed sense perception) is not reliable enough for the new Cartesian method of skepticalreasoning.^[52] The Cartesian project to replace common good sense with clearly defined mathematical reasoning was aimed at certainty, and not mere probability. It was promoted further by people such as Hobbes, Spinoza, and others and continues to have important impacts on everyday life. In France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Italy, it was in its initial florescence associated with the administration of Catholic empires of the competing Bourbon, and Habsburg dynasties, both seeking to centralize their power in a modern way, responding to Machiavellianism and Protestantism as part of the so-called counter reformation.^[53]

Cartesian theory offered a justification for innovative social change achieved through the courts and administration, an ability to adapt the law to changing social conditions by making the basis for legislation 'rational' rather than 'traditional'.^[54]

So after Descartes, critical attention turned from Aristotle and his theory of perception, and more towards Descartes' own treatment of common good sense, concerning which several 18th-century authors found help in Roman literature.

The Enlightenment after Descartes[edit]

Epistemology: versus claims of certainty[edit]

During the Enlightenment, Descartes' insistence upon a mathematical-style method of thinking that treated common sense and the sense perceptions sceptically, was accepted in some ways, but also criticized. On the one hand, the approach of Descartes is and was seen as radically sceptical in some ways. On the other hand, like the Scholastics before him, while being cautious of common sense, Descartes was instead seen to rely too much on undemonstrable metaphysical assumptions in order to justify his method, especially in its separation of mind and body (with the sensus communis linking them). Cartesians such as Henricus Regius, Geraud de Cordemoy, and Nicolas Malebranche realized that Descartes's logic could give no evidence of the 'external world' at all, meaning it had to be taken on faith.^[55] Though his own proposed solution was even more controversial, Berkeley famously wrote that enlightenment requires a 'revolt from metaphysical notions to the plain dictates of nature and common sense'.^[56] Descartes and the Cartesian 'rationalists', rejected reliance upon experience, the senses and inductive reasoning, and seemed to insist that certainty was possible. The alternative to induction, deductive reasoning, demanded a mathematical approach, starting from simple and certain assumptions. This in turn required Descartes (and later rationalists such as Kant) to assume the existence of innate or 'a priori' knowledge in the human mind—a controversial proposal.

In contrast to the rationalists, the 'empiricists' took their orientation from Francis Bacon, whose arguments for methodical science were earlier than those of Descartes, and less directed towards mathematics and certainty. Bacon is known for his doctrine of the 'idols of the mind', presented in his Novum Organum, and in his Essays described normal human thinking as biased towards believing in lies.^[57] But he was also the opponent of all metaphysical explanations of nature, or over-reaching speculation generally, and a proponent of science based on small steps of experience, experimentation and methodical induction. So while agreeing upon the need to help common sense with a methodical approach, he also insisted that starting from common sense, including especially common sense perceptions, was acceptable and correct. He influenced Locke and Pierre Bayle, in their critique of metaphysics, and in 1733 Voltaire 'introduced him as the 'father' of the scientific method' to a French audience, an understanding that was widespread by 1750. Together with this, references to 'common sense' became positive and associated with modernity, in contrast to negative references to metaphysics, which was associated with the Ancien Régime.^[8]

As mentioned above, in terms of the more general epistemological implications of common sense, modern philosophy came to use the term common sense like Descartes, abandoning Aristotle's theory. While Descartes had distanced himself from it, John Locke abandoned it more openly, while still maintaining the idea of 'common sensibles' that are perceived. But then George Berkeley abandoned both.^[47]David Hume agreed with Berkeley on this, and like Locke and Vico saw himself as following Bacon more than Descartes. In his synthesis, which he saw as the first Baconian analysis of man (something the lesser known Vico had claimed earlier), common sense is entirely built up from shared experience and shared innate emotions, and therefore it is indeed imperfect as a basis for any attempt to know the truth or to make the best decision. But he defended the possibility of science without absolute certainty, and consistently described common sense as giving a valid answer to the challenge of extreme skepticism. Concerning such sceptics, he wrote:

But would these prejudiced reasoners reflect a moment, there are many obvious instances and arguments, sufficient to undeceive them, and make them enlarge their maxims and principles. Do they not see the vast variety of inclinations and pursuits among our species; where each man seems fully satisfied with his own course of life, and would esteem it the greatest unhappiness to be confined to that of his neighbour? Do they not feel in themselves, that what pleases at one time, displeases at another, by the change of inclination; and that it is not in their power, by their utmost efforts, to recall that taste or appetite, which formerly bestowed charms on what now appears indifferent or disagreeable? [...] Do you come to a philosopher as to a cunning man, to learn something by magic or witchcraft, beyond what can be known by common prudence and discretion?^[58]

Ethics: 'humanist'[edit]

Once Thomas Hobbes and Spinoza had applied Cartesian approaches to political philosophy, concerns about the inhumanity of the deductive approach of Descartes increased. With this in mind, Shaftesbury and, much less known at the time, Giambattista Vico, both presented new arguments for the importance of the Roman understanding of common sense, in what is now often referred to, after Hans-Georg Gadamer, as a humanist interpretation of the term.^[59] Their concern had several inter-related aspects. One ethical concern was the deliberately simplified method that treated human communities as made up of selfish independent individuals (methodological individualism), ignoring the sense of community that the Romans understood as part of common sense. Another connected epistemological concern was that by considering common good sense as inherently inferior to Cartesian conclusions developed from simple assumptions, an important type of wisdom was being arrogantly ignored.

Shaftesbury's seminal 1709 essay Sensus Communis: An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour was a highly erudite and influential defense of the use of irony and humour in serious discussions, at least among men of 'Good Breeding'. He drew upon authors such as Seneca, Juvenal, Horace and Marcus Aurelius, for whom, he saw, common sense was not just a reference to widely held vulgar opinions, but something cultivated among educated people living in better communities. One aspect of this, later taken up by authors such as Kant, was good taste. Another very important aspect of common sense particularly interesting to later British political philosophers such as Francis Hutcheson was what came to be called moral sentiment, which is different from a tribal or factional sentiment, but a more general fellow feeling that is very important for larger communities:

A publick Spirit can come only from a social Feeling or Sense of Partnership with Human Kind. Now there are none so far from being Partners in this Sense, or sharers in this common Affection, as they who scarcely know an Equall, nor consider themselves as subject to any law of Fellowship or Community. And thus Morality and good Government go together.^[60]

Hutcheson described it as, 'a Publick Sense, viz. 'our Determination to be pleased with the Happiness of others, and to be uneasy at their Misery.' which, he explains, 'was sometimes called κοινονοημοσύνη^[61] or Sensus Communis by some of the Antients'.^[62]

A reaction to Shaftesbury in defense of the Hobbesian approach of treating communities as driven by individual self-interest, was not long coming in Bernard Mandeville's controversial works. Indeed, this approach was never fully rejected, at least in economics. And so despite the criticism heaped upon Mandeville and Hobbes by Adam Smith, Hutcheson's student and successor in Glasgow university, Smith made self-interest a core assumption within nascent modern economics, specifically as part of the practical justification for allowing free markets.

By the late enlightenment period in the 18th century, the communal sense or empathy pointed to by Shaftesbury and Hutcheson had become the 'moral sense' or 'moral sentiment' referred to by Hume and Adam Smith, the latter writing in plural of the 'moral sentiments' with the key one being sympathy, which was not so much a public spirit as such, but a kind of extension of self-interest. Jeremy Bentham gives a summary of the plethora of terms used in British philosophy by the nineteenth century to describe common sense in discussions about ethics:

Another man comes and alters the phrase: leaving out moral, and putting in common, in the room of it. He then tells you, that his common sense teaches him what is right and wrong, as surely as the other's moral sense did: meaning by common sense, a sense of some kind or other, which he says, is possessed by all mankind: the sense of those, whose sense is not the same as the author's, being struck out of the account as not worth taking.^[63]

This was at least to some extent opposed to the Hobbesian approach, still today normal in economic theory, of trying to understand all human behaviour as fundamentally selfish, and would also be a foil to the new ethics of Kant. This understanding of a moral sense or public spirit remains a subject for discussion, although the term 'common sense' is no longer commonly used for the sentiment itself.^[64] In several European languages, a separate term for this type of common sense is used. For example, French sens commun and German Gemeinsinn are used for this feeling of human solidarity, while bon sens (good sense) and gesunder Verstand (healthy understanding) are the terms for everyday 'common sense'.

According to Gadamer, at least in French and British philosophy a moral element in appeals to common sense (or bon sens), such as found in Reid, remains normal to this day.^[65] But according to Gadamer, the civic quality implied in discussion of sensus communis in other European countries did not take root in the German philosophy of the 18th and 19th centuries, despite the fact it consciously imitated much in English and French philosophy. 'Sensus communis was understood as a purely theoretical judgment, parallel to moral consciousness (conscience) and taste.'^[66] The concept of sensus communis 'was emptied and intellectualized by the German enlightenment'.^[67] But German philosophy was becoming internationally important at this same time.

Gadamer notes one less-known exception—the Württemberg pietism, inspired by the 18th century Swabian churchman, M. Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, who appealed to Shaftesbury and other Enlightenment figures in his critique of the Cartesian rationalism of Leibniz and Wolff, who were the most important German philosophers before Kant.^[68]

Giambattista Vico[edit]

Vico, who taught classical rhetoric in Naples (where Shaftesbury died) under a Cartesian-influenced Spanish government, was not widely read until the 20th century, but his writings on common sense have been an important influence upon Hans-Georg Gadamer, Benedetto Croce and Antonio Gramsci.^[31] Vico united the Roman and Greek meanings of the term communis sensus.^[69] Vico's initial use of the term, which was of much inspiration to Gadamer for example, appears in his On the Study Methods of our Time, which was partly a defense of his own profession, given the reformist pressure upon both his University and the legal system in Naples. It presents common sense as something adolescents need to be trained in if they are not to 'break into odd and arrogant behaviour when adulthood is reached', whereas teaching Cartesian method on its own harms common sense and stunts intellectual development. Rhetoric and elocution are not just for legal debate, but also educate young people to use their sense perceptions and their perceptions more broadly, building a fund of remembered images in their imagination, and then using ingenuity in creating linking metaphors, in order to make enthymemes. Enthymemes are reasonings about uncertain truths and probabilities—as opposed to the Cartesian method, which was skeptical of all that could not be dealt with as syllogisms, including raw perceptions of physical bodies. Hence common sense is not just a 'guiding standard of eloquence' but also 'the standard of practical judgment'. The imagination or fantasy, which under traditional Aristotelianism was often equated with the koinḕ aísthēsis, is built up under this training, becoming the 'fund' (to use Schaeffer's term) accepting not only memories of things seen by an individual, but also metaphors and images known in the community, including the ones out of which language itself is made.^[70]

In its mature version, Vico's conception of sensus communis is defined by him as 'judgment without reflection, shared by an entire class, an entire people, and entire nation, or the entire human race'. Vico proposed his own anti-Cartesian methodology for a new Baconian science, inspired, he said, by Plato, Tacitus,^[71] Francis Bacon and Grotius. In this he went further than his predecessors concerning the ancient certainties available within vulgar common sense. What is required, according to his new science, is to find the common sense shared by different people and nations. He made this a basis for a new and better-founded approach to discuss Natural Law, improving upon Grotius, John Selden, and Pufendorf who he felt had failed to convince, because they could claim no authority from nature. Unlike Grotius, Vico went beyond looking for one single set of similarities amongst nations but also established rules about how natural law properly changes as peoples change, and has to be judged relative to this state of development. He thus developed a detailed view of an evolving wisdom of peoples. Ancient forgotten wisdoms, he claimed, could be re-discovered by analysis of languages and myths formed under the influence of them.^[72] This is comparable to both Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws, as well as much later Hegelianhistoricism, both of which apparently developed without any awareness of Vico's work.^[73]

Thomas Reid and the Scottish school[edit]

Contemporary with Hume, but critical of Hume's scepticism, a so-called Scottish school of Common Sense formed, whose basic principle was enunciated by its founder and greatest figure, Thomas Reid:

If there are certain principles, as I think there are, which the constitution of our nature leads us to believe, and which we are under a necessity to take for granted in the common concerns of life, without being able to give a reason for them — these are what we call the principles of common sense; and what is manifestly contrary to them, is what we call absurd.^[74]

Thomas Reid was a successor to Francis Hutcheson and Adam Smith as Professor of Moral Philosophy, Glasgow. While Reid's interests lay in the defense of common sense as a type of self-evident knowledge available to individuals, this was also part of a defense of natural law in the style of Grotius. He believed that the term common sense as he used it did encompass both the social common sense described by Shaftesbury and Hutcheson, and the perceptive powers described by Aristotelians.

Reid was criticised, partly for his critique of Hume, by Kant and J. S. Mill, who were two of the most important influences in nineteenth century philosophy. He was blamed for over-stating Hume's scepticism of commonly held beliefs, and more importantly for not perceiving the problem with any claim that common sense could ever fulfill Cartesian (or Kantian) demands for absolute knowledge. Reid furthermore emphasized inborn common sense as opposed to only experience and sense perception. In this way his common sense has a similarity to the assertion of a priori knowledge asserted by rationalists like Descartes and Kant, despite Reid's criticism of Descartes concerning his theory of ideas. Hume was critical of Reid on this point.

Despite the criticism, the influence of the Scottish school was notable for example upon American pragmatism, and modern Thomism. The influence has been particularly important concerning the epistemological importance of a sensus communis for any possibility of rational discussion between people.

Kant: In aesthetic taste[edit]

Immanuel Kant developed a new variant of the idea of sensus communis, noting how having a sensitivity for what opinions are widely shared and comprehensible gives a sort of standard for judgment, and objective discussion, at least in the field of aesthetics and taste:

The common Understanding of men [gemeine Menschenverstand], which, as the mere sound (not yet cultivated) Understanding, we regard as the least to be expected from any one claiming the name of man, has therefore the doubtful honour of being given the name of common sense [Namen des Gemeinsinnes] (sensus communis); and in such a way that by the name common (not merely in our language, where the word actually has a double signification, but in many others) we understand vulgar, that which is everywhere met with, the possession of which indicates absolutely no merit or superiority.

But under the sensus communis we must include the Idea of a communal sense [eines gemeinschaftlichen Sinnes], i.e. of a faculty of judgement, which in its reflection takes account (a priori) of the mode of representation of all other men in thought; in order as it were to compare its judgement with the collective Reason of humanity, and thus to escape the illusion arising from the private conditions that could be so easily taken for objective, which would injuriously affect the judgement.^[75]

Kant saw this concept as answering a particular need in his system: 'the question of why aesthetic judgments are valid: since aesthetic judgments are a perfectly normal function of the same faculties of cognition involved in ordinary cognition, they will have the same universal validity as such ordinary acts of cognition'.^[76]

But Kant's overall approach was very different from those of Hume or Vico. Like Descartes, he rejected appeals to uncertain sense perception and common sense (except in the very specific way he describes concerning aesthetics), or the prejudices of one's 'Weltanschauung', and tried to give a new way to certainty through methodical logic, and an assumption of a type of a priori knowledge. He was also not in agreement with Reid and the Scottish school, who he criticized in his Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics as using 'the magic wand of common sense', and not properly confronting the 'metaphysical' problem defined by Hume, which Kant wanted to be solved scientifically—the problem of how to use reason to consider how one ought to act.

Kant used different words to refer to his aesthetic sensus communis, for which he used Latin or else German Gemeinsinn, and the more general English meaning which he associated with Reid and his followers, for which he used various terms such as gemeinen Menscheverstand, gesunden Verstand, or gemeinen Verstand.^[77]

According to Gadamer, in contrast to the 'wealth of meaning' that Vico and Shaftesbury brought from the Roman tradition into their humanism, Kant 'developed his moral philosophy in explicit opposition to the doctrine of 'moral feeling' that had been worked out in English philosophy'. The moral imperative 'cannot be based on feeling, not even if one does not mean an individual's feeling but common moral sensibility'.^[78] For Kant, the sensus communis only applied to taste, and the meaning of taste was also narrowed as it was no longer understood as any kind of knowledge.^[79] Taste, for Kant, is universal only in that it results from 'the free play of all our cognitive powers', and is communal only in that it 'abstracts from all subjective, private conditions such as attractiveness and emotion'.^[80]

Kant himself did not see himself as a relativist, and was aiming to give knowledge a more solid basis, but as Richard J. Bernstein remarks, reviewing this same critique of Gadamer:

Once we begin to question whether there is a common faculty of taste (a sensus communis), we are easily led down the path to relativism. And this is what did happen after Kant—so much so that today it is extraordinarily difficult to retrieve any idea of taste or aesthetic judgment that is more than the expression of personal preferences. Ironically (given Kant's intentions), the same tendency has worked itself out with a vengeance with regards to all judgments of value, including moral judgments.^[81]

Contemporary philosophy[edit]

Epistemology[edit]

Continuing the tradition of Reid and the enlightenment generally, the common sense of individuals trying to understand reality continues to be a serious subject in philosophy. In America, Reid influenced C. S. Peirce, the founder of the philosophical movement now known as Pragmatism, which has become internationally influential. One of the names Peirce used for the movement was 'Critical Common-Sensism'. Peirce, who wrote after Charles Darwin, suggested that Reid and Kant's ideas about inborn common sense could be explained by evolution. But while such beliefs might be well adapted to primitive conditions, they were not infallible, and could not always be relied upon.

Another example still influential today is from G. E. Moore, several of whose essays, such as the 1925 'A Defence of Common Sense', argued that individuals can make many types of statements about what they judge to be true, and that the individual and everyone else knows to be true. Michael Huemer has advocated an epistemic theory he calls phenomenal conservatism, which he claims to accord with common sense by way of internalistintuition.^[82]

Ethics: what the community would think[edit]

In twentieth century philosophy the concept of the sensus communis as discussed by Vico and especially Kant became a major topic of philosophical discussion. The theme of this discussion questions how far the understanding of eloquent rhetorical discussion (in the case of Vico), or communally sensitive aesthetic tastes (in the case of Kant) can give a standard or model for political, ethical and legal discussion in a world where forms of relativism are commonly accepted, and serious dialogue between very different nations is essential. Some philosophers such as Jacques Rancière indeed take the lead from Jean-François Lyotard and refer to the 'postmodern' condition as one where there is 'dissensus communis'.^[83]

Hannah Arendt adapted Kant's concept of sensus communis as a faculty of aesthetic judgement that imagines the judgements of others, into something relevant for political judgement. Thus she created a 'Kantian' political philosophy, which, as she said herself, Kant did not write. She argued that there was often a banality to evil in the real world, for example in the case of someone like Adolf Eichmann, which consisted in a lack of sensus communis and thoughtfulness generally. Arendt and also Jürgen Habermas, who took a similar position concerning Kant's sensus communis, were criticised by Lyotard for their use of Kant's sensus communis as a standard for real political judgement. Lyotard also saw Kant's sensus communis as an important concept for understanding political judgement, not aiming at any consensus, but rather at a possibility of a 'euphony' in 'dis-sensus'. Lyotard claimed that any attempt to impose any sensus communis in real politics would mean imposture by an empowered faction upon others.^[84]

In a parallel development, Antonio Gramsci, Benedetto Croce, and later Hans-Georg Gadamer took inspiration from Vico's understanding of common sense as a kind of wisdom of nations, going beyond Cartesian method. It has been suggested that Gadamer's most well-known work, Truth and Method, can be read as an 'extended meditation on the implications of Vico's defense of the rhetorical tradition in response to the nascent methodologism that ultimately dominated academic enquiry'.^[85] In the case of Gadamer, this was in specific contrast to the sensus communis concept in Kant, which he felt (in agreement with Lyotard) could not be relevant to politics if used in its original sense.

Gadamer came into direct debate with his contemporary Habermas, the so-called Hermeneutikstreit. Habermas, with a self-declared Enlightenment 'prejudice against prejudice' argued that if breaking free from the restraints of language is not the aim of dialectic, then social science will be dominated by whoever wins debates, and thus Gadamer's defense of sensus communis effectively defends traditional prejudices. Gadamer argued that being critical requires being critical of prejudices including the prejudice against prejudice. Some prejudices will be true. And Gadamer did not share Habermas' acceptance that aiming at going beyond language through method was not itself potentially dangerous. Furthermore, he insisted that because all understanding comes through language, hermeneutics has a claim to universality. As Gadamer wrote in the 'Afterword' of Truth and Method, 'I find it frighteningly unreal when people like Habermas ascribe to rhetoric a compulsory quality that one must reject in favor of unconstrained, rational dialogue'.

Paul Ricoeur argued that Gadamer and Habermas were both right in part. As a hermeneutist like Gadamer he agreed with him about the problem of lack of any perspective outside of history, pointing out that Habermas himself argued as someone coming from a particular tradition. He also agreed with Gadamer that hermeneutics is a 'basic kind of knowing on which others rest.'^[86] But he felt that Gadamer under-estimated the need for a dialectic that was critical and distanced, and attempting to go behind language.^[87][88]

A recent commentator on Vico, John D. Schaeffer has argued that Gadamer's approach to sensus communis exposed itself to the criticism of Habermas because it 'privatized' it, removing it from a changing and oral community, following the Greek philosophers in rejecting true communal rhetoric, in favour of forcing the concept within a Socratic dialectic aimed at truth. Schaeffer claims that Vico's concept provides a third option to those of Habermas and Gadamer and he compares it to the recent philosophers Richard J. Bernstein, Bernard Williams, Richard Rorty, and Alasdair MacIntyre, and the recent theorist of rhetoric, Richard Lanham.^[89]

'Moral sense' as opposed to 'rationality'[edit]

The other Enlightenment debate about common sense, concerning common sense as a term for an emotion or drive that is unselfish, also continues to be important in discussion of social science, and especially economics. The axiom that communities can be usefully modeled as a collection of self-interested individuals is a central assumption in much of modern mathematical economics, and mathematical economics has now come to be an influential tool of political decision making.

While the term 'common sense' had already become less commonly used as a term for the empathetic moral sentiments by the time of Adam Smith, debates continue about methodological individualism as something supposedly justified philosophically for methodological reasons (as argued for example by Milton Friedman and more recently by Gary S. Becker, both members of the so-called Chicago school of economics).^[90] As in the Enlightenment, this debate therefore continues to combine debates about not only what the individual motivations of people are, but also what can be known about scientifically, and what should be usefully assumed for methodological reasons, even if the truth of the assumptions are strongly doubted. Economics and social science generally have been criticized as a refuge of Cartesian methodology. Hence, amongst critics of the methodological argument for assuming self-centeredness in economics are authors such as Deirdre McCloskey, who have taken their bearings from the above-mentioned philosophical debates involving Habermas, Gadamer, the anti-Cartesian Richard Rorty and others, arguing that trying to force economics to follow artificial methodological laws is bad, and it is better to recognize social science as driven by rhetoric.

Catholic theology[edit]

Among Catholic theologians, writers such as theologian François Fénelon and philosopher Claude Buffier (1661–1737) gave an anti-Cartesian defense of common sense as a foundation for knowledge. Other catholic theologians took up this approach, and attempts were made to combine this with more traditional Thomism, for example Jean-Marie de Lamennais. This was similar to the approach of Thomas Reid, who for example was a direct influence on Théodore Jouffroy. This however meant basing knowledge upon something uncertain, and irrational. Matteo Liberatore, seeking an approach more consistent with Aristotle and Aquinas, equated this foundational common sense with the koinaí dóxai of Aristotle, that correspond to the communes conceptiones of Aquinas.^[55] In the twentieth century, this debate is especially associated with Étienne Gilson and Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange.^[91] Gilson pointed out that Liberatore's approach means categorizing such common beliefs as the existence of God or the immortality of the soul, under the same heading as (in Aristotle and Aquinas) such logical beliefs as that it is impossible for something to exist and not exist at the same time. This, according to Gilson, is going beyond the original meaning. Concerning Liberatore he wrote:

Endeavours of this sort always end in defeat. In order to confer a technical philosophical value upon the common sense of orators and moralists it is necessary either to accept Reid's common sense as a sort of unjustified and unjustifiable instinct, which will destroy Thomism, or to reduce it to the Thomist intellect and reason, which will result in its being suppressed as a specifically distinct faculty of knowledge. In short, there can be no middle ground between Reid and St. Thomas.^[55]

Gilson argued that Thomism avoided the problem of having to decide between Cartesian innate certainties and Reid's uncertain common sense, and that 'as soon as the problem of the existence of the external world was presented in terms of common sense, Cartesianism was accepted'.^[91]

Projects[edit]

• McCarthy's advice-taker proposal of 1958 represents an early proposal to use logic for representing common-sense knowledge in mathematical logic and using an automated theorem prover to derive answers to questions expressed in logical form. Compare Leibniz's calculus ratiocinator and characteristica universalis.
• The Cyc project attempts to provide a basis of common-sense knowledge for artificial-intelligence systems.
• The Open Mind Common Sense project resembles the Cyc project, except that it, like other on-line collaborative projects depends on the contributions of thousands of individuals across the World Wide Web.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Merriam-Webster gives: 'sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.' [1], Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as, 'the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way.'[2], Cambridge Dictionaries Online. van Holthoorn & Olson (1987, p. 9) say that 'common sense consists of knowledge, judgement, and taste which is more or less universal and which is held more or less without reflection or argument.' C.S. Lewis (1967, p. 146) wrote that what common sense 'often means' is 'the elementary mental outfit of the normal man.'
2. ^Maroney, Terry A. (2009). 'Emotional Common Sense as Constitutional Law'. Vanderbilt Law Review. 62: 851.
3. ^Smedslund, Jan (September 1982). 'Common sense as psychosocial reality: A reply to Sjöberg'. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 23 (1): 79–82. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.1982.tb00416.x.
4. ^For example, Thomas Reid contrasted common sense and good sense to some extent. See Wierzbicka (2010, p. 340).
5. ^The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary of 1973 gives four meanings of 'common sense': An archaic meaning is 'An internal sense which was regarded as the common bond or centre of the five senses'; 'Ordinary, normal, or average understanding' without which a man would be 'foolish or insane', 'the general sense of mankind, or of a community' (two sub-meanings of this are good sound practical sense and general sagacity); A philosophical meaning, the 'faculty of primary truths'.
6. ^See the body of this article concerning (for example) Descartes, Hobbes, Adam Smith, and so on. Thomas Paine's pamphlet named 'Common Sense' was an influential publishing success during the period leading up to the American revolution.
7. ^See for example Rosenfeld (2011, p. 282); Wierzbicka (2010); and van Kessel (1987, p. 117): 'today the Anglo-Saxon concept prevails almost everywhere'.
8. ^ ^abcHundert (1987)
9. ^Rosenfeld, Sophia (2014). Common sense : a political history. [S.l.]: Harvard Univ Press. p. 23. ISBN9780674284166.
10. ^Descartes (1901) Part I of the Discourse on Method. NOTE: The term in French is 'bon sens' sometimes translated as 'good sense'. The opening lines in English translation read:

    Good Sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed; for every one thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that those even who are the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do not usually desire a larger measure of this quality than they already possess. And in this it is not likely that all are mistaken: the conviction is rather to be held as testifying that the power of judging aright and of distinguishing Truth from Error, which is properly what is called Good Sense or Reason, is by nature equal in all men; and that the diversity of our opinions, consequently, does not arise from some being endowed with a larger share of Reason than others, but solely from this, that we conduct our thoughts along different ways, and do not fix our attention on the same objects. For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it. The greatest minds, as they are capable of the highest excellencies, are open likewise to the greatest aberrations; and those who travel very slowly may yet make far greater progress, provided they keep always to the straight road, than those who, while they run, forsake it.

11. ^There are other places in the works of Aristotle uses the same two words together: De memoria et reminiscentia 1450a, De Partibus Animalium IV.10 686a, Metaphysics I.1 981b, Historia Animalium I.3 489a. See Gregorić (2007).
12. ^Aristotle lists change, shape, magnitude, number and unity, but he notes that we perceive shape, magnitude, and the rest by first being able to perceive change or movement (Greek uses one word for both: κῑ́νησῐς, kī́nēsis), and number is perceived by perceiving a lack of unity. (De Anima 425a16, just before the famous mention of 'common sense'.) As Lee (2011) explains, Aristotle is talking about what Robert Boyle and John Locke referred to as 'primary qualities' (not to be confused with Aristotle's use of the term 'primary qualities'). Plato is not so clear. In the equivalent passage in Plato's Theaetetus 185c–d, he talks about what is common in all things, and in specific things, and by which we say that things for example 'are' versus 'are not'; are 'similar' versus 'dissimilar'; are the 'same' versus being 'different'; being one or a higher number; odd or even.
13. ^These 'common sensibles' or koiná are in other words one Platonic-Aristotelian version of what are today called 'universals', although Aristotle distinguishes the koiná perceived by common sense, from the forms or ideas seen by the noûs (νοῦς). See for example Anagnostopoulos, Georgios, ed. (2013-03-05), A Companion to Aristotle, ISBN9781118610633.
14. ^De Anima line 425a47, just after the famous mention of 'common sense'.
15. ^De Anima column 427a. Plato, in his Theaetatus 185a–c uses the question of how to judge if sound or colour are salty.
16. ^Sachs (2011, p. 132)
17. ^ ^abBrann (1991, p. 43)
18. ^Approximately 185a–187a.
19. ^ ^abGregorić (2007)
20. ^Gregorić (2007), Introduction.
21. ^ ^abcHeller-Roazen (2008, p. 42).
22. ^ ^abWalzer, Richard (1998), Al-Farabi on the Perfect State, p. 389, ISBN978-1871031768.
23. ^Gregorić (2007, p. 125)
24. ^Posterior Analytics II.19.
25. ^Gregorić (2007, pp. 5–6).
26. ^Gregorić (2007), Part II, chapter 3, which concerns a passage in De Partibus Animalium IV, but also refers to other passages in the corpus. See footnote 28.
27. ^Gregorić (2007, p. 10). The 'cogitative' or 'estimative' capacity, vis aestimativa, 'enables the animal to extract vital information about its environment from the form processed by the common sense and imagination.'
28. ^Gregorić (2007, p. 11). See below concerning Descartes.
29. ^Heller-Roazen (2008, p. 36)
30. ^Gregorić (2007, p. 12)
31. ^ ^abBugter (1987, p. 84).
32. ^Dyson, Henry (2009), Prolepsis and Ennoia in the Early Stoa, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN9783110212297
33. ^Shaftesbury (2001), volume I, part III, section I, first footnote.
34. ^Hans-Georg Gadamer saw Aristotle's rhetorical work as having formed a continuity with his ethical and political work, all sharing a focus upon phrónēsis (φρόνησῐς, lit. 'practical wisdom'), and a connection to what Vico saw in the concept of common sense. See Arthos, John (2011), 'Gadamer's dialogical imperative: Linking Socratic dialogue to Aristotle's PHRONESIS', in Wierciński, Andrzej (ed.), Gadamer's Hermeneutics and the Art of Conversation, ISBN9783643111722 and Schaeffer (1990, p. 113).
35. ^ἀνάγκη διὰ τῶν κοινῶν ποιεῖσθαι τὰς πίστεις καὶ τοὺς λόγουςRhetoric 1355a
36. ^Bugter (1987, p. 90).
37. ^De Oratore, I, 3, 12
38. ^Heller-Roazen (2008, p. 33).
39. ^Bugter (1987, pp. 91–92).
40. ^Bugter (1987, p. 93).
41. ^Heller-Roazen (2008, p. 32).
42. ^Lewis (1967, p. 146)
43. ^van Holthoon (1987), chapter 9.
44. ^Descartes (1901) Chapter: MEDITATION II.: Of the Nature of the Human Mind ; and that It is More Easily Known than the Body.
45. ^Descartes (1901) Chapter: MEDITATION VI.: Of the Existence of Material Things, and of the Real Distinction Between the Mind and Body of Man.
46. ^Brann (1991, p. 75)
47. ^ ^abRosenfeld (2011, p. 21).
48. ^See Leijenhorst, Cees (2002), The Mechanisation of Aristotelianism: The Late Aristotelian Setting of Thomas Hobbes' Natural Philosophy, Brill, p. 83, ISBN978-9004117297. Hobbes (like Gassendi) wrote scornfully of the complex old distinctions, and in particular the medieval concept of sensible 'species' (a concept derived from Aristotle's perceptibles):

    Some say the Senses receive the Species of things, and deliver them to the Common-sense; and the Common Sense delivers them over to the Fancy, and the Fancy to the Memory, and the Memory to the Judgement, like handing of things from one to another, with many words making nothing understood. (Hobbes, Thomas, 'II.: of imagination', The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury; Now First Collected and Edited by Sir William Molesworth, Bart., 11 vols., 3 (Leviathan), London: Bohn).

49. ^Spruit (1995, pp. 403–404).
50. ^Rosenfeld (2011), p. 282. English is unusual in keeping one term that unites the classical and modern meanings, and philosophical and everyday meanings, so clearly. Italian has senso comune and also buon senso; German has gemeiner Verstand, gesunder Menschenverstand, and Gemeinsinn, used by Kant and others. French also has sens commun, used by Étienne Gilson and others. See Wierzbicka (2010), who also notes that according to Gilson, Descartes himself always referred to bon sens as bona mens in Latin, never sensus communis (p. 340).
51. ^Gilson, Etienne (1925), 'Première Partie; Commentaire Historique', Discours de la méthode, p. 82, ISBN9782711601806
52. ^Heller-Roazen (2008, p. 30)
53. ^van Kessel (1987)
54. ^Schaeffer (1990, p. 52).
55. ^ ^abcGilson (1939), chapter 1.
56. ^Zhang, Longxi (2011-12-07), The Concept of Humanity in an Age of Globalization, p. 131, ISBN9783862349180
57. ^Bacon, Francis, On Truth, archived from the original on 2013-06-29, retrieved 2013-09-19Cite uses deprecated parameter dead-url= (help)
58. ^Hume (1987) Chapter: ESSAY XVIII: THE SCEPTIC
59. ^Gadamer (1989, pp. 19–26).
60. ^Shaftesbury (2001), Volume I, Part III, section 1.
61. ^Although Greek, this term koinonoēmosúnē is from the Meditations of the Roman emperor-philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, and was possibly coined by him. However Shaftesbury and others suspect it is a Stoic term. (Not many Stoic texts have survived.)
62. ^Hutcheson, Francis (2002), 'section i: A general Account of our several Senses and Desires, Selfish or Publick', An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections, with Illustrations on the Moral Sense, ed. Aaron Garrett, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, retrieved 2013-07-25.
63. ^Chapter II, 'OF PRINCIPLES ADVERSE TO THAT OF UTILITY', in 'An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation'.
64. ^Gadamer (1989, p. 25)
65. ^Gadamer (1989, pp. 25–27)
66. ^Gadamer (1989, p. 27)
67. ^Gadamer (1989, p. 30)
68. ^Gadamer (1989, pp. 27–30)
69. ^Schaeffer (1990, p. 3).
70. ^Schaeffer (1990), chapter 3.
71. ^As remarked by several commentators such as Croce and Leo Strauss, during this period citation of Tacitus is referred to as Taciteanism, and was often a veiled way of showing the influence of Machiavelli. Citing Plato on the other hand, shows the typical rejection in this period of Aristotle and scholasticism, but not classical learning in its entirety.
72. ^Vico (1968), I.ii 'Elements' (§§141-146) and I.iv 'Method' (§§347-350).
73. ^Bayer (1990), 'Vico's principle of sensus communis and forensic eloquence'(PDF), Chicago-Kent Law Review, 83 (3), archived from the original(PDF) on 2013-09-21, retrieved 2013-07-25Cite uses deprecated parameter dead-url= (help). Also see Schaeffer (1990), p. 3, and Gadamer.
74. ^Cuneo; Woudenberg, eds. (2004), The Cambridge companion to Thomas Reid, p. 85, ISBN9780521012089
75. ^Kant (1914). Key German terms are added in square brackets. See German text.
76. ^Burnham, Douglas, Kant's Aesthetics
77. ^Rosenfeld (2011), p. 312, note 2.
78. ^Gadamer (1989, pp. 32–34). Note: The source makes it clear that 'English' includes Scottish authors.
79. ^Gadamer (1989, pp. 34–41)
80. ^Gadamer (1989, p. 43)
81. ^Bernstein, Richard (1983), Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics, and Praxis, ISBN978-0812205503, p. 120.
82. ^http://www.iep.utm.edu/phen-con/
83. ^van Haute; Birmingham, eds. (1995), Dissensus Communis: Between Ethics and Politics, Kok Pharos, ISBN9789039004036
84. ^Benjamin, Andrew, ed. (1992), Judging Lyotard, ISBN9781134940622
85. ^Mootz (2011-06-16), 'Gadamer's Rhetorical Conception of Hermeneutics as the key to developing a Critical Hermeneutics', in Mootz III, Francis J.; Taylor, George H. (eds.), Gadamer and Ricoeur: Critical Horizons for Contemporary Hermeneutics, p. 84, ISBN9781441175991
86. ^Stiver, Dan (2001), Theology After Ricoeur: New Directions in Hermeneutical Theology, p. 149, ISBN9780664222437
87. ^Vessey (2011-06-16), 'Paul Ricoeur's and Hans-Georg Gadamer's diverging reflections on recognition', in Mootz III, Francis J.; Taylor, George H. (eds.), Gadamer and Ricoeur: Critical Horizons for Contemporary Hermeneutics, ISBN9781441175991
88. ^Dauenhauer, Bernard (1998), Paul Ricoeur: The Promise and Risk of Politics, Rowman and Littlefield, ISBN9780585177724
89. ^Schaeffer (1990), chapters 5–7.
90. ^See for example Albert O. Hirschman, 'Against Parsimony: Three Easy Ways of Complicating Some Categories of Economic Discourse.' Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 37, no. 8 (May 1984): 11–28.
91. ^ ^abAran Murphy, Francesca (2004), Art and Intellect in the Philosophy of Etienne Gilson, University of Missouri Press, ISBN9780826262387

Bibliography[edit]

• Aristotle, De Anima. The Loeb Classical Library edition of 1986 used the 1936 translation of W.S Hett, and the standardised Greek text of August Immanuel Bekker. The more recent translation by Joe Sachs (see below) attempts to be more literal.
• Brann, Eva (1991), The World of the Imagination: Sum and Substance, Rowman & Littlefield
• Bugter (1987), 'Sensus Communis in the works of M. Tullius Cicero', in van Holthoon; Olson (eds.), Common Sense: The Foundations for Social Science, ISBN9780819165046
• Descartes, Réné (1901), The Method, Meditations and Philosophy of Descartes, translated from the Original Texts, with a new introductory Essay, Historical and Critical by John Veitch and a Special Introduction by Frank Sewall, Washington: M. Walter Dunne, retrieved 2013-07-25
• Descartes, Rene (1970), 'Letter to Mersenne, 21 April 1941', in Kenny, Anthony (ed.), Descartes: Philosophical Letters, Oxford University Press Translated by Anthony Kenny. Descartes discusses his use of the notion of the common sense in the sixth meditation.
• Descartes, Rene (1989), Passions of the Soul, Hackett. Translated by Stephen H. Voss.
• Gadamer, Hans-Georg (1989), Truth and Method, 2nd rev. ed., trans. Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall, New York: Continuum.
• Gilson, Etienne (1939), Thomist Realism and the Critique of Knowledge, ISBN9781586176853
• Gregorić, Pavel (2007), Aristotle on the Common Sense, Oxford University Press, ISBN9780191608490
• Heller-Roazen, Daniel (2008), Nichols; Kablitz; Calhoun (eds.), Rethinking the Medieval Senses, Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN9780801887369
• van Holthoon (1987), 'The common sense of Rousseau', in van Holthoon; Olson (eds.), Common Sense: The Foundations for Social Science
• van Holthoorn; Olson (1987), 'Introduction', in van Holthoon; Olson (eds.), Common Sense: The Foundations for Social Science
• Hume, David (1987), Essays Moral, Political, Literary, edited and with a Foreword, Notes, and Glossary by Eugene F. Miller, with an appendix of variant readings from the 1889 edition by T.H. Green and T.H. Grose, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, retrieved 2013-07-25
• Hume, David (1902), Enquiries Concerning the Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume, ed. L. A. Selby-Bigge, M.A. 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Hundert (1987), 'Enlightenment and the decay of common sense', in van Holthoon; Olson (eds.), Common Sense: The Foundations for Social Science
• Kant, Immanuel (1914), '§ 40.: Of Taste as a kind of sensus communis', Kant's Critique of Judgement, translated with Introduction and Notes by J.H. Bernard (2nd ed. revised), London: Macmillan, retrieved 2013-07-25
• van Kessel (1987), 'Common Sense between Bacon and Vico: Scepticism in England and Italy', in van Holthoon; Olson (eds.), Common Sense: The Foundations for Social Science, ISBN9780819165046
• Lee, Mi-Kyoung (2011), 'The distinction between primary and secondary qualities in ancient Greek philosophy', in Nolan, Lawrence (ed.), Primary and Secondary Qualities: The Historical and Ongoing Debate, Oxford
• Lewis, C. S. (1967), Studies in words, Cambridge, ISBN9780521398312
• Moore, George Edward (1925), A defense of common sense
• Oettinger, M. Friedrich Christoph. 1861. Cited in Gadamer (1989).
• Peters Agnew, Lois (2008), Outward, Visible Propriety: Stoic Philosophy and Eighteenth-century British Rhetorics, University of South Carolina Press, ISBN9781570037672
• Reid, Thomas (1983), 'An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense', in Beanblosom; Lehrer (eds.), Thomas Reid's Inquiry and Essays, New York: Hackett
• Rosenfeld, Sophia (2011), Common Sense, Harvard University Press, ISBN9780674061286
• Sachs, Joe (2001), Aristotle's On the Soul and On Memory and Recollection, Green Lion Press, ISBN978-1-888009-17-0
• Schaeffer (1990), Sensus Communis: Vico, Rhetoric, and the Limits of Relativism, Duke University Press, ISBN978-0822310266
• Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of (2001), Douglas den Uyl (ed.), Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund
• Spruit, Leen (1994), Species Intelligibilis: From Perception to Knowledge. I. Classical roots and medieval discussions, Brill, ISBN978-9004098831
• Spruit, Leen (1995), Species Intelligibilis: From Perception to Knowledge. II. Renaissance controversies, later scholasticism, and the elimination of the intelligible species in modern philosophy, Brill, ISBN978-9004103962
• Stebbins, Robert A. Leisure's Legacy: Challenging the Common Sense View of Free Time. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
• Vico, Giambattista. On the Study Methods of our Time, trans. Elio Gianturco. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990.
• Vico, Giambattista (1968), The New Science of Giambattista Vico (3rd ed.), Cornell University Press. Translated by Bergin and Fisch.
• Voltaire (1901), 'COMMON SENSE', The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version. A Critique and Biography by John Morley, notes by Tobias Smollett, trans. William F. Fleming, IV, New York: E.R. DuMont
• Wierzbicka, Anna (2010), Experience, Evidence, and Sense: The Hidden Cultural Legacy of English, Oxford University Press

Further reading[edit]

• Coates, John (1996), The Claims of Common Sense: Moore, Wittgenstein, Keynes and the Social Sciences, Cambridge University Press, ISBN9780521412568
• Ledwig, Marion (2007), Common Sense: Its History, Method, and Applicability, Peter Lang, ISBN9780820488844
• McCarthy, John; Lifschitz, Vladimir (1990), Formalizing Common Sense, Intellect Books, ISBN9780893915353

Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn^[4][5][6] (born March 13, 1972), better known by his stage name Common (formerly Common Sense), is an American rapper, actor, writer, philanthropist, and activist. Common debuted in 1992 with the album Can I Borrow a Dollar? and maintained an underground following into the late 1990s, after which he gained mainstream success through his work with the Soulquarians.^[7]

Common's first major-label album Like Water for Chocolate (2000) received commercial success.^[8] In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for the Erykah Badu single 'Love of My Life'.^[9] His 2005 album Be was also a commercial success and was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2006 Grammy Awards. Common received his second Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for 'Southside' (featuring Kanye West), from his 2007 album Finding Forever. His best-of album, Thisisme Then: The Best of Common, was released in late 2007. In 2011, Common launched Think Common Entertainment, his own record label imprint. He had previously released music under various other labels including Relativity, Geffen, and GOOD Music.

Common won the 2015 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and the Academy Award for Best Original Song, for his song 'Glory' from the 2014 film Selma, in which he co-starred as Civil Rights Movement leader James Bevel. Common's acting career also includes roles in the films Smokin' Aces, Street Kings, American Gangster, Wanted, Terminator Salvation, Date Night, Just Wright, Happy Feet Two, New Year's Eve, Run All Night, Being Charlie, Rex, John Wick: Chapter 2 and Smallfoot. He also narrated the documentary Bouncing Cats, about one man's efforts to improve the lives of children in Uganda through hip-hop/b-boy culture.^[10] He starred as Elam Ferguson on the AMCwestern television series Hell on Wheels.

• 2Music career
  • 2.52011–present: Think Common Ent.
• 3Other work
• 6Filmography

Early life[edit]

Common Sense Book Art Williams Pdf Files Free

Lonnie Lynn was born on March 13, 1972 at the Chicago Osteopathic Hospital in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, the son of educator Mahalia Ann Hines and former ABA basketball player turned youth counselor Lonnie Lynn Jr.^[11] He was raised in the Calumet Heights neighborhood.^{[12][13][14][15]} Lynn's parents divorced when he was six years old, resulting in his father moving to Denver, Colorado. This left Lynn to be raised by his mother; however, his father remained active in his life, and was able to get Lynn a job with the Chicago Bulls as a teenager. Lynn attended Florida A&M University for two years under a scholarship and majored in business administration.^[16]

Music career[edit]

1987–1996: Career beginnings[edit]

Lynn started his career in music in 1987, while a student at Luther High School South in Chicago, when he, along with two of his friends, formed C.D.R., a rap trio that opened for acts such as N.W.A and Big Daddy Kane.^[17] When C.D.R dissolved by 1991, Lynn began a solo career under the stage name of Common Sense. After being featured in the Unsigned Hype column of The Source magazine, he debuted as a solo artist in 1992 with the single 'Take It EZ', followed by the album Can I Borrow a Dollar?.

With the 1994 release of Resurrection, Common Sense achieved a much larger degree of critical acclaim, which extended beyond Chicago natives. The album sold relatively well and received a strong positive reaction among alternative and underground hip hop fans at the time. Resurrection was Common Sense's last album produced almost entirely by his long-time production partner, No I.D., who would later become a mentor to a young Kanye West.

In 1996, Common Sense appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD, America Is Dying Slowly (A.I.D.S.), alongside Biz Markie, Wu-Tang Clan, and Fat Joe, among many other prominent hip hop artists. The CD, meant to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic among African American men, was heralded as 'a masterpiece' by The Source magazine. He would later also contribute to the Red Hot Organization's Fela Kuti tribute album, Red Hot and Riot in 2002. He collaborated with Djelimady Tounkara on a remake of Kuti's track, 'Years of Tears and Sorrow'.

The song 'I Used to Love H.E.R.' from Resurrection ignited a feud with West Coast rap groupWestside Connection. The lyrics of the song criticized the path hip hop music was taking, utilizing a metaphor of a woman to convey hip hop^[18] and were interpreted by some as directing blame towards the popularity of West Coast gangsta rap. Westside Connection first responded with the 1995 song 'Westside Slaughterhouse,' with the lyrics 'Used to love H.E.R., mad cause I fucked her'. 'Westside Slaughterhouse' also mentioned Common Sense by name, prompting the rapper to respond with the scathing Pete Rock-produced attack song 'The Bitch in Yoo'. Common Sense and Westside Connection continued to insult each other back and forth before finally meeting with Louis Farrakhan and setting aside their dispute. Following the popularity of Resurrection, Common Sense was sued by an Orange County-based reggae band with the same name, and was forced to shorten his moniker to simply Common.^[19]

1996–1999: One Day It'll All Make Sense[edit]

Initially scheduled for an October 1996 release, Common finally released his third album, One Day It'll All Make Sense, in September 1997. The album took a total of two years to complete and included collaborations with artists such as Lauryn Hill, De La Soul, Q-Tip, Canibus, Black Thought, Chantay Savage, and Questlove – a future fellow member of the Soulquarians outfit. The album, which made a point of eschewing any gangsterism (in response to questions about his musical integrity), was critically acclaimed and led to a major label contract with MCA Records. In addition to releasing One Day, Common's first child, daughter Omoye Assata Lynn, was born shortly after the release of the album.

As documented by hip-hop journalist Raquel Cepeda, in the liner notes for the album, this event had a profound spiritual and mental effect on Common and enabled him to grow musically while becoming more responsible as an artist. She writes:

Rashid found out that he was going to become a daddy in about 8 months. Stunned and confused, Rashid had life-altering decisions to make with his girlfriend, Kim Jones. The situation led to the composition of his favorite cut on One Day... that offers a male slant on abortion. 'Retrospect for Life', produced by James Poyser and No I.D. featuring Lauryn Hill (who was due on the same day as Rashid's girlfriend), is the song that is the driving force behind the project. Rashid listens to 'Retrospect for Life' today at the mastering session geeked as if it were for the first time. He tells me as we listen to L-Boogie wail the chorus, 'when I listen to the song now, I think about how precious her (Omoye's) life is'.

Common addresses family ethics several times on One Day..., and the album sleeve is decorated with old family photos, illustrating the rapper's childhood, as well a quote from 1 Corinthians 13:11, which summarizes the path to manhood:

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

1999–2003: Soulquarians era[edit]

Following One Day..., Common signed a major label record deal with MCA Records and relocated from Chicago to New York City in 1999. He began recording almost exclusively with a loose collective of musicians and artists (dubbed the 'Soulquarians' by central figure Questlove) throughout 1999, and made a few sporadic guest appearances on The Roots' Things Fall Apart, and the Rawkus Records compilation, Soundbombing 2.

In 2000, his fourth album, Like Water for Chocolate, was released to mass critical acclaim. Executive produced by Questlove and featuring significant contributions by J Dilla, (who helmed many tracks except – 'Cold Blooded', 'Geto Heaven Part II', 'A Song For Assata', 'Pop's Rap Part 3...All My Children' & the DJ Premier-produced track 'The 6th Sense'), Like Water for Chocolate transpired to be a considerable commercial breakthrough for Common, earning the rapper his first gold record, and greatly expanding his fanbase among critics and listeners alike.

With both artists hailing from the Great Lakes region of the United States (Chicago and Detroit, respectively), Common and J Dilla established their chemistry early on. Both became members of the Soulquarians collective, and collaborated on numerous projects together, even placing one song, 'Thelonius', on both the Slum Village album Fantastic, Vol. 2, and Common's Like Water for Chocolate. As Dilla's health began to decline from the effects of Lupus Nephritis, he relocated to Los Angeles, and asked Common to make the move with him as a roommate (Dilla would later lose his battle with the rare disease).^[20]

This album saw Common exploring themes (musically and lyrically), which were uncommon for a hip-hop record, as he does on the song 'Time Travelin' (A Tribute To Fela)'; a homage to Nigerian music legend, and political activist Fela Kuti. The most popular single from the album 'The Light' was nominated for a Grammy Award.

In 2002, Common released his fifth album, Electric Circus. The album was highly anticipated and praised by many critics for its ambitious vision. However, it was not as commercially successful as his previous album, Like Water for Chocolate, selling under 300,000 copies. An eclectic album, Electric Circus featured fusions of several genres such as hip hop, pop, rock, electronic, and neo-soul. The album's style tended to divide critics; some praised its ambitious vision while others criticized it for the same reason. Most of the criticism tended to revolve around the album's experimental nature; some felt Common had strayed too far from his previous sound. This was Common's second and last album for MCA, and the label's final release prior to its absorption into Geffen Records.

2004–2011: GOOD Music era[edit]

In early 2004, Common made an appearance on fellow Chicagoan Kanye West's multi-platinum debut album, The College Dropout (on the song 'Get Em High'), and announced his signing to West's then-newfound label GOOD Music. West had been a longtime fan of Common and the two even participated in a friendly on-air MC battle, where West took jabs at his lyrical idol for 'going soft' and wearing crochet pants (as he does for his appearance in the video for the Mary J. Blige song 'Dance for Me'). The pair worked together on Common's next album, Be, almost entirely produced by Kanye West, with some help from Common's longtime collaborator the late James Yancey (J Dilla) – also a favorite of West. The album was released in May 2005, and performed very well, boosted by Kanye's involvement and the singles 'The Corner', and 'Go'. Be earned Common the second gold record of his career, with sales topping out at around 800,000 copies. The Source magazine gave it a near perfect 4.5 mic rating, XXL magazine gave it their highest rating of 'XXL', and AllHipHop gave the album 4 stars. The album was also nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2006.

Following the release of Be in 2005, several mixed-race artists from the UK hip-hop scene took exception to Common's comments about interracial relationships on the song 'Real People.' Yungun, Doc Brown and Rising Son recorded a track over an instrumental version of 'The Corner' named 'Dear Common (The Corner Dub).' Common states that he has heard of the track but never actually taken the time to listen to it, and has not retaliated in song.^[21]

Common Sense Book Summary

Common's seventh LP titled Finding Forever was released on July 31, 2007. For this album, he continued his work with Kanye West, as well as other producers such as will.i.am, Devo Springsteen, Derrick Hodge, and Karriem Riggins, as well as the only J Dilla-produced track, 'So Far To Go'. The album features guest spots from artists such as Dwele, Bilal, D'Angelo, and UK pop starlet Lily Allen. The first single from the album was 'The People' b/w 'The Game'. West predicted that Finding Forever would win the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.^[22] The album was nominated for Best Rap Album, but did not win, losing to West's Graduation; however, Common did win his second Grammy for 'Southside,' which won the 2008 Grammy for Best Rap Performance by Duo or Group.On July 31, 2007, Common performed a free concert in Santa Monica, California on the 3rd Street Promenade to promote the release of Finding Forever. Common explained to the audience that the title 'Finding Forever' represented his quest to find an eternal place in hip-hop and also his wishes to be an artist for the rest of his life. The album debuted at #1 on the national Billboard 200 charts.

In an August 2007 interview with XXL, rapper Q-Tip of the group A Tribe Called Quest stated that he and Common were forming a group called The Standard. While the two were meant to hit the studio to record a Q-Tip-produced album, possibly with contributions from Kanye West, Common put out Universal Mind Control instead and has already planned the next album, The Dreamer, The Believer, for late 2011.^[23]

Common was instrumental in bridging the trans-Atlantic gap by signing UK's Mr. Wong and J2K to Kanye West's Getting Out Our Dreams recording outfit. Common met the pair during his tour in the UK earlier on in the year. It is speculated that the deal is not only to bring the UK and US hip hop genres together but that to rival Syco Music's cross-Atlantic success with Leona Lewis. He also has a deal with Zune mp3 players. In 2008 Common made an estimated 12 million dollars, making him equal in earnings to Eminem and Akon, tied for the 13th highest grossing Hip-Hop artist.^{[citation needed]}

The eighth album from Chicago hip-hop artist Common was originally scheduled to be released on June 24, 2008 under the name Invincible Summer, but he announced at a Temple University concert that he would change it to Universal Mind Control.^[24] The release date was pushed back to September 30, 2008 due to Common filming Wanted. The release date was set for November 11, 2008, however, it was once again pushed back to December 9, 2008.

The album's eponymouslead single 'Universal Mind Control', was officially released on July 1, 2008, via the US iTunes Store as part of The Announcement EP (sold as Universal Mind Control EP in the UK). The song features Pharrell, who also produced the track. The Announcement EP included an additional track titled 'Announcement', also featuring Pharrell. The video for the lead single was filmed in September by director Hype Williams. In 2009, Common was prominently featured throughout his GOOD Music label-mate Kid Cudi's debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, as a narrator and featured artist. In late 2009, it was revealed Common was nominated for two Grammys at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for 'Make Her Say', alongside Kid Cudi and Kanye West, as well as Best Rap Album for Universal Mind Control.

2011–present: Think Common Ent.[edit]

The Dreamer/The Believer and feud with Drake[edit]

American producer No I.D., stated that he and Kanye West would be producing Common's album The Dreamer/The Believer.^[25] In July 2011, it was announced that No I.D. would be the album's sole producer.^[26] Common made an appearance on The Jonas Brothers' most recent album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times as a guest rapper for the group's 2009 song, 'Don't Charge Me for the Crime.'^[27]

On July 6, 2011, Common released his first single, titled 'Ghetto Dreams', from his next album. A second single,'Blue Sky', was released on October 4, 2011. On December 20, 2011, Common released his ninth solo album titled The Dreamer, The Believer. Although he left GOOD Music in 2011, Common was featured on the label's first compilation album, 2012's Cruel Summer. Common released a song entitled 'Sweet', from The Dreamer/The Believer, which included lyrics critical of rappers who sing, although this criticism was not aimed specifically at Canadian recording artist Drake.^[28] Drake took offense and responded by releasing 'Stay Schemin', a song with Rick Ross and French Montana.^[29] Common fans only had to wait two-and-a-half days for him to respond to Drake's diss track. On February 13, 2012, Common commented on the feud by saying 'It's over. But it was all in the art of hip hop. He said some things to me so I had to say some things back...I wouldn't say [he started it] but I know I heard something that I felt was directed to me so I addressed it. That's all. But you know, thank God we were able to move forward from it and all is good.'^[30]

Artium Recordings and Nobody's Smiling[edit]

After a quiet 2012, Common announced he would release an extended play (EP) in January 2013, and his first mixtape in April.^[31] In February 2013, Common announced his tenth solo studio album would be released in September 2013 and will feature Kanye West and production from Kanye West and No I.D..^[31] Later on September 8, 2013, he gave an update to his projects saying the previously announced EP would be released soon, and would feature a song with new Def Jam signee Vince Staples. He also told HipHopDX, his tenth solo studio album would be released in early 2014.^[32]

On January 6, 2014, Common announced his tenth studio album to be titled Nobody's Smiling and would be produced entirely by longtime collaborator No I.D.. The album, which Common revealed was originally going to be an EP, is set to feature Vince Staples, James Fauntleroy and 'some new artists from Chicago.' The concept of the album was inspired by his troubled hometown of Chicago: 'We came up with this concept 'nobody's smiling.' It was really a thought that came about because of all the violence in Chicago,' he says. 'It happens in Chicago, but it's happening around the world in many ways.' He continues, 'We was talking about the conditions of what's happening, when I say 'nobody's smiling.' But it's really a call to action.'^[33][34][35] On June 4, 2014, it was announced Common signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings and No I.D.'s Artium Records.^[36] It was also announced Nobody's Smiling would be released July 22, 2014.^[36] Lonnie 'Pops' Lynn was to be featured on this album as well but the recording fell through as Lonnie's health declined. A recording was indeed made and is in process of being released on Dirty Laboratory Productions featuring production by AwareNess.

In 2018, Common also announced he would be forming a jazz group called August Greene.^[37]

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Common among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.^[38]

Other work[edit]

Acting[edit]

In 2003, Common appeared on the American UPN sitcom Girlfriends. In the episode 'Take This Poem and Call Me in the Morning', he appeared as Omar, a slam poet who competes with fellow poet Sivad (played by Saul Williams) for the affection of Lynn Searcy (played by Persia White). He also had a cameo appearance on an episode of UPN's One on One, where he played a drama class instructor named Darius. He also made an appearance on the ABC show Scrubs. In 2007, Common appeared with Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven, and Alicia Keys in the crime film Smokin' Aces, making his big screen debut as villainous Mobenforcer Sir Ivy. He appeared alongside Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, The RZA and T.I. in the 2007 crime thriller American Gangster. On January 20, 2007, one week before the opening of Smokin Aces, he appeared in a Saturday Night Live sketch as himself. The show's host was Piven, his Aces co-star.

In 2007, Common played the role of Smokin' Aces co-star Alicia Keys's boyfriend in the music video 'Like You'll Never See Me Again'.

In 2008, he starred in the film adaptation of the comic book Wanted alongside Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie. Common also appeared in the movie Street Kings with Keanu Reeves, Hugh Laurie, The Game, and Forest Whitaker. Common also starred in the 2010 movie Just Wright as a basketball player who falls in love with his trainer Queen Latifah.^[39] He appeared in the 2009 film Terminator Salvation as John Connor's lieutenant Barnes.^[40]

In 2009, Common was cast as John Stewart/Green Lantern in the unproduced film Justice League: Mortal.

Common starred as a corrupt cop in the 2010 comedy Date Night with Steve Carell and Tina Fey. He was part of the ensemble cast of AMC's Hell on Wheels, as one of the lead characters, Elam Ferguson, a recently freed slave trying to find his place in the world.^[41]In 2013, Common played the role of Agent Evans, an FBI agent in Now You See Me along with Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco. In the 2014 film Selma, for which he also co-wrote the Oscar-winning song 'Glory', Common co-starred as 1960s civil rights leader James Bevel. In 2015, he played a hitman in Run All Night.

Common appeared as a gangster in the 2016 film Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer and part of the DC Extended Universe.^[42]

In December 2015, Common appeared in the NBC TV special The Wiz Live!, as the Bouncer guarding the Emerald City.

In 2016 he co-starred in the film Barbershop: The Next Cut, alongside former rival Ice Cube.

In February 2017, he appeared alongside Keanu Reeves again, this time as professional hitman/bodyguard Cassian in John Wick: Chapter 2.

In August 2017, Common began voicing Kiburi the crocodile in Disney Junior's The Lion Guard.^[43]

In a major, breakout role, for which he has received much critical acclaim (Variety's Peter Debruge calling his performance 'easily the strongest of the half-dozen supporting roles he's had this year'^[44]), Common played opposite Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Eva Vives's debut feature, All About Nina, which had its world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.

Film production[edit]

On October 27, 2015, Common inked a 2-year deal with HBO that allowed to start his own film production company, Freedom Road Productions.^[45][46] He stated in an interview in February 2012 that one of his big career goals was to start his own film production company.^[47]

In 2016 Common also worked with Amazon Studios and American Girl, serving as an executive producer for the direct-to-video feature An American Girl Story - Melody 1963: Love Has to Win.^[48]

Modeling and clothing[edit]

In 2006, Common was a model for photos of The Gap's fall season collection, appearing on posters in stores. Later that year, he performed in The Gap's 'Holiday in Your Hood' themed Peace Love Gap. In February 2007, Common signed a deal with New Era to promote their new line of Layers fitted caps. Common also stars in a television commercial for the 2008 Lincoln Navigator. He appears in NBA 2K8 in NBA Blacktop mode. In the fall of 2008, Common appeared in an ad for Microsoft's Zune, comparing his new song, 'Universal Mind Control', to 'Planet Rock', a song from hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa. Also, he featured in the Diesel campaign for a new fragrance called 'Only The Brave'. His song 'Be (intro)' is featured in a commercial for BlackBerry as of January 2011.

In December 2008, Common launched a new clothing line in partnership with Microsoft titled 'Softwear', based on 1980s computing.

Writing[edit]

Common was invited by First Lady Michelle Obama to appear at a poetry reading on May 11, 2011 at the White House.^[49] His poetry was found to be greatly influenced by Maya Angelou's works. This caused furor with the New Jersey State Police and their union,^[50] who disagreed with his lyrical content. The president of the New Jersey State Troopers Fraternal Association voiced concern to the White House. They cite the song 'A Song For Assata' about a member of the Black Liberation Army and step-aunt of deceased rapper Tupac Shakur named Assata Shakur, previously known as Joanne Chesimard,^[51] who was convicted in 1977 of the first-degree murder of New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster.

At another poetry reading, Common said, 'flyers say 'free Mumia' on my freezer', a reference to Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was controversially convicted of killing Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. Common stated, 'The one thing that shouldn't be questioned is my support for the police officers and troops that protect us every day.'

Jay Carney, the White House Press Secretary at the time, spoke for President Obama on the matter by saying the president does not support, but actually opposes, some of the kind of words and lyrics that have been written by Common and others.^[52] Even though the president does not support the lyrics in question, he believed that some reports were distorting what Mr. Lynn stands for more broadly. Common gave a single line response to the entire controversy: 'I guess Sarah Palin and Fox News doesn't like me.'^[52]

Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's The Daily Show questioned Fox News' coverage of the controversy, saying that they 'took the time to ignore Common's entire body of work, save for one poem he wrote in 2007 that they appear to misunderstand.' Stewart also pointed out that in 2002, George W. Bush honored Johnny Cash, whose songs contain violent lyrics. Stewart further pointed out that Fox News itself offered positive coverage of Common's career in 2010, and that Sean Hannity, who criticized Common's White House invitation, is a friend of musician Ted Nugent, who in clips played on The Daily Show, used violent rhetoric in comments he made about President Obama and Hillary Clinton.^[53] Common later discussed the matter with Stewart during a September 14, 2011 appearance on the program.^[54]

In September 2011, Common published his memoir, One Day It'll All Make Sense, through Atria Books. As the book details how his close relationship with his mother influenced his life, it is partially narrated by her.^[55]

Activism[edit]

Common used to be vegan, but is now a pescetarian. In addition, he is a supporter of animal rights and PETA. He appeared in a print advertisement for PETA titled 'Think Before You Eat',^[56] and in a documentary titled Holistic Wellness for the Hip-Hop Generation where he promoted vegetarianism.^[57]

Common is also part of the 'Knowing Is Beautiful' movement, which supports HIV/AIDS awareness.^[56] He is featured in the video for 'Yes We Can', a song in support of the candidacy of Barack Obama, which made its debut on the internet on February 2, 2008. Common has pledged to stop using anti-gay lyrics in his music.^[58][59]

Common is the founder of the Common Ground Foundation,^[60][61] a non-profit that seeks to empower underprivileged youth to be strong citizens and citizens of the world. The foundation includes programs dedicated to leadership development & empowerment, educational development, creative expression, as well as a book club. In 2014, Common Ground inaugurated the AAHH! Fest music festival in Chicago's Union Park.^[62] After a one-year hiatus, AAHH! Fest returned in 2016,^[63] but was canceled one week before showtime in 2017.^[63] An official announcement stated the fest would return September 15, 2018.^[63]

Rapper Common along with other rappers and activists appear in the award-winning documentary short film #Bars4Justice which was shot in Ferguson, Missouri and produced by Nation19 Magazine.^[64]

Common performed with Andra Day in the opening musical performance for the March for Our Lives anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C. on March 24, 2018.^[65][66]

Common performed at the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's death^[67] in Memphis at an event co-hosted by the labor union Unite Here. This later created controversy in 2018 as Common joined anti-union efforts and crossed a Unite Here picket line in Boston^[68]

Personal life[edit]

Common is a pescatarian^[69] and is both a Chicago Bulls and Chicago Bears fan.^[70][71]

Discography[edit]

Studio albums

• Can I Borrow a Dollar? (1992)
• Resurrection (1994)
• One Day It'll All Make Sense (1997)
• Like Water for Chocolate (2000)
• Electric Circus (2002)
• Be (2005)
• Finding Forever (2007)
• Universal Mind Control (2008)
• The Dreamer/The Believer (2011)
• Nobody's Smiling (2014)
• Black America Again (2016)
• Let Love (2019)

Collaborative albums

• August Greene(with Robert Glasper and Karriem Riggins) (2018)

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Television[edit]

Video games[edit]

Awards and nominations[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'Common'. Discogs.com. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
2. ^'Common receives Honorary Doctorate from Winston Salem State University'. 2015. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2018.Cite uses deprecated parameter dead-url= (help)
3. ^'Loma Vista - a recording company'. Lomavistarecordings.com. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
4. ^Mudede, Charles. 'In His New Memoir, Common Sheds Light on a Lifestyle That Old School Rappers Only Dreamed About'. Thestranger.com. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
5. ^Cragg, Michael (December 6, 2011). 'New music: Common – The Believer feat John Legend'. The Guardian. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
6. ^'Common At The White House: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert'. YouTube.
7. ^'Video: Common Speaks on Soulquarians, No I.D. & Kanye + BTS Pics of 'Blue Sky' Video'. okayplayer. October 11, 2011. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
8. ^'Common Biography'. AllMusic. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
9. ^'UMPG writers and artists receive best R&B Song of the Year Category at Grammy Awards'. Universal Music Publishing Group.
10. ^'Synopsis'. Bouncingcats.com. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
11. ^'Sweet Home Cook County'(PDF). Cookcountyclerk.com. Archived from the original(PDF) on May 28, 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2017.Cite uses deprecated parameter deadurl= (help)
12. ^Bazer, Mark (September 17, 2014). 'Common is Back in the Neighborhood' (October 2014). Chicago magazine.
13. ^Zegel, Maureen (March 27, 2012). 'Rapper Common to bring his message to UMSL'. UMSL Daily.
14. ^Williams, Thomas Chatterton (May 11, 2011). 'By inviting Common to the White House, Barack and Michelle Obama miss a golden opportunity'. Daily News.
15. ^'Common to throw White Sox 1st pitch'. ABC 7 Chicago. April 13, 2012.
16. ^Yarborough, Marti (June 27, 2005). 'Hip-hop star Common talks about: new hit CD 'Be' being labeled a 'conscious rapper' his breakup with singer Erykah Badu who attracts him now'. Jet. FindArticles.com. Archived from the original on April 5, 2011. Retrieved July 25, 2009.Cite uses deprecated parameter dead-url= (help)
17. ^'AskMen.com's Men of the Week: Entertainment – Common'. Archived from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved June 13, 2007.Cite uses deprecated parameter deadurl= (help)
18. ^Kelly, Lauren Leigh (2013). 'Hip-Hop Literature: The Politics, Poetics, and Power of Hip-Hop in the English Classroom'. The English Journal. 102 (5): 51–56. JSTOR24484092.
19. ^Huey, Steve (July 31, 2007). 'Common Biography'. allmusic. Retrieved September 9, 2008.
20. ^'J Dilla's turn in spotlight comes after his death'. MSNBC. August 31, 2006.
21. ^'Common Gets Thugged Out, Ghost Writing For Diddy TooArchived September 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine'. Sohh.com. Retrieved December 7, 2006.
22. ^Reid, Shaheem (April 19, 2006). 'Kanye Says He Won't Do 'Fast-Food' Music — 'M:i:III' Track Took 50 Hours'. MTV News. Retrieved December 6, 2006.
23. ^'Hip-Hop on a Higher Level ' Q-Tip and Common Form New Group, The Standard'. XXLmag.com. Archived from the original on April 12, 2009. Retrieved May 13, 2011.Cite uses deprecated parameter deadurl= (help)
24. ^'Common Previews 'Invincible' New Album, 29 April 2k8'. Billboard.com. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
25. ^'No I.D. & Kanye To Helm Next Common Album'. Nah Right. October 9, 2008. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
26. ^Horowitz, Steven J. (July 5, 2011). 'No I.D. To Produce The Entirety of Common's 'The Dreamer, The Believer' Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales'. HipHop DX. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
27. ^'Common on Jonas Brothers New Album'. IdioMag. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2009.Cite uses deprecated parameter deadurl= (help)
28. ^'Common Responds To Drake (Shade 45)'. Rap Radar. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
29. ^'Is Drake Dissing Common On Rick Ross' 'Stay Schemin'?'. Prefixmag.com. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
30. ^'Common Confirms Drake Beef Is 'Over,' Sends Prayers To Whitney Houston's Family'. HipHopDx. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
31. ^ ^abHorowitz, Steven J.Common To Release An EP, Album & Mixtape In 2013 Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales. HipHop DX. Retrieved on February 13, 2013.
32. ^Smith, Bruce (September 8, 2013). 'Common Promises EP & Details Vince Staples Collaboration Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales'. HipHop DX. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
33. ^'Common Announces New Album 'Nobody Smiling'. Rap-Up.com. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
34. ^Kennedy, John (January 7, 2014). 'Watch: Common Reveals Guests On 'Nobody Smiling' LP'. Vibe.
35. ^Ortiz, Edwin (January 6, 2014). 'Common to Release New Album 'Nobody Smiling' In 2014, Entirely Produced by No I.D.'. Complex.
36. ^ ^ab'Grammy Winner COMMON Signs to No I.D.'s Artium/Def Jam Recordings - BWWMusicWorld'. Broadwayworld.com. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
37. ^'Common Teams Up With Longtime Producers to Form Supergroup August Greene: Listen to 'Optimistic' Single'. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
38. ^Rosen, Jody (June 25, 2019). 'Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire'. The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
39. ^'Four Justice League of America Casting Confirmations Arrive Early'. Firstshowing.net. November 17, 2007. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
40. ^'Common to appear in new 'Terminator' film News'. Nme.Com. May 7, 2008. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
41. ^'Common Q&A'. amctv.com. November 6, 2011. Archived from the original on November 12, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2011.Cite uses deprecated parameter deadurl= (help)
42. ^'Common Joins 'Suicide Squad' Cast'. BallerStatus.com. April 23, 2015.
43. ^Scott, Sydney (August 10, 2017). 'Exclusive: Common Gets Shady In Disney Junior's 'The Lion Guard''. essence.com. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
44. ^'Film Review: 'All About Nina''. variety.com. September 28, 2018. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
45. ^Lynch, Joe (October 27, 2015). 'Common Signs Two-Year Deal With HBO'. Billboard. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
46. ^Chris Leo Palermino (October 28, 2015). 'Hip hop artist/producer Common links two year deal with HBO'. Digital Trends. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
47. ^Walker, Julie (February 2, 2012). '4 Questions With Common'. The Root. Archived from the original on January 22, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2016.Cite uses deprecated parameter deadurl= (help)
48. ^Kile, Meredith. 'EXCLUSIVE: See 'Black-ish' Star Marsai Martin as the Newest American Girl in 'Melody 1963: Love Has to Win''. KMFB Channel 8. CBS. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
49. ^'Rapper Common performs at White House amid media controversy'. Washington Post.
50. ^'Common Controversy Comes to White House Poetry Night; Cops, Conservatives Cry Foul at Some of His Past Work (UPDATED) – Political Punch'. ABC News. May 2, 1973. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
51. ^'Wanted b the FBI: JOANNE DEBORAH CHESIMARD'. FBI. accessed September 19, 2011.
52. ^ ^abDirner, Cullen. 'White House Condemns Some of Common's Lyrics but Praises his Larger Body of Work'. ABC News. May 11, 2011
53. ^Weprin, Alex. 'Common Controversy? The Daily Show Takes Down Fox News Reports on Rapper Visit to White House'. TV Newser. May 12, 2011
54. ^''Common''. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. September 14, 2011. Comedy Central.
55. ^One Day It'll All Make Sense. Amazon.com. accessed September 11, 2011.
56. ^ ^ab'Common charity biography'. Look to the Stars. n.d. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
57. ^Winslow, Mike (August 13, 2003). 'Common, Sticman, Badu Featured In New Health Documentary'. AllHipHop. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
58. ^'Common Pledges No More Anti-Gay Lyrics'. NewNowNext.com. September 6, 2007. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
59. ^ContactMusic.com. May 9, 2007. Retrieved June 24, 2008.
60. ^'Mission Statement'. Common Ground Foundation. n.d. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved October 12, 2011.Cite uses deprecated parameter deadurl= (help)
61. ^'Hip Hop Humanitarians'. Nation19. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
62. ^Mark, Bazer (September 17, 2014). 'Common is Back in the Neighborhood'. Chicago magazine (October 2014).
63. ^ ^abcAriel Cheung, Common's AAHH! Fest Gets Canceled Just One Week Before ShowtimeArchived September 16, 2017, at the Wayback MachineDNAinfo, September 14, 2017
64. ^19, Nation. 'Filmmakers bring Ferguson to Phoenix's Hip Hop community… Sheriff Arpaio not invited'. Nation19 / APDTA. Nation19. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
65. ^CBS Miami. 'Common & Andra Day performe at March for Our Lives'. (March 24, 2018).
66. ^CSPAN. 'March for Our Lives Rally'. (March 24, 2018).
67. ^'Common, Lin-Manuel Miranda commemorate 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death'. USA TODAY. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
68. ^'Rapper, actor Common crosses picket line of striking Boston Marriott workers'. Flipboard. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
69. ^'Vegetarian StarRapper Common Has Common Ground With Vegetarians'. Vegetarianstar.com. February 3, 2009. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
70. ^'Common talks about Bulls, hometown of Chicago'. ESPN. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
71. ^'Common Bears Should Hire Rex Ryan'. TMZ Sports. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
72. ^Dave McNary (April 22, 2015). 'Documentary 'Unity' Set for Aug. 12 Release with 100 Star Narrators'. Variety. Retrieved May 1, 2015.

External links[edit]

Common Sense Book Art Williams Pdf Files Download

• Official website
• Common at AllMusic
• Common on IMDb
• Common on Democracy Now! – video interview