Common Sense Philosophy
In Our Time: Philosophy
BBC
4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 June 2007
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Melvyn Bragg looks at an unexpected philosophical subject - the philosophy of common sense. In the first century BC the Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero claimed “There is no statement so absurd that no philosopher will make it”. Indeed, in the history of Western thought, philosophers have rarely been credited with having much common sense. In the 17th century Francis Bacon made a similar point when he wrote “Philosophers make imaginary laws for imaginary commonwealths, and their discourses are as the stars, which give little light because they are so high”. Samuel Johnson picked up the theme with characteristic pugnacity in 1751 declaring that “the public would suffer less present inconvenience from the banishment of philosophers than from the extinction of any common trade.” Philosophers, it seems, are as distinct from the common man as philosophy is from common sense.But as Samuel Johnson scribbled his pithy knockdown in the Rambler magazine, the greatest philosophers in Britain were locked in a dispute about the very thing he denied them: Common Sense. It was a dispute about the nature of knowledge and the individuality of man, from which we derive the idea of common sense today. The chief antagonists were a minister of the Scottish Church, Thomas Reid, and the bon-viveur darling of the Edinburg chattering classes, David Hume. It's a journey that also takes in Rene Descartes, Immanuel Kant, John Locke and some of the most profound questions about human knowledge we are capable of asking.With A C Grayling, Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London; Melissa Lane, Senior University Lecturer in History at Cambridge University; Alexander Broadie, Professor of Logic and Rhetoric at the University of Glasgow.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Thanks for down learning the In Our Time podcast. For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co.uk. |
| 0:10.0 | I hope you enjoy the program. |
| 0:12.0 | In elaborate... you enjoy the program. In the first century BC the Roman |
| 0:17.0 | statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero claimed there's no statement so absurd that |
| 0:21.0 | no philosopher will make it. Indeed in the history of |
| 0:23.2 | Western thought philosophers have rarely been credited with having much |
| 0:26.2 | common sense. In the 17th century Francis Bacon made the point rather poetically |
| 0:30.3 | and wrote, philosophers make imaginary laws for imaginary commonwealths, and their discourses are as the stars, which give little light because they're so high. |
| 0:38.0 | Samuel Johnson picked up the theme, with some pagnacity in 1751 declaring that the public would suffer less present inconvenience |
| 0:46.1 | from the banishment of philosophers than from the extinction of any common trade. |
| 0:51.0 | But as Samuel Johnson scribbled his knockdown in the Rambler magazine, the greatest philosophers |
| 0:55.6 | in Britain were locked in dispute about the very thing he denied them, common sense. |
| 0:59.9 | It was a dispute about the nature of knowledge and the individuality of man from which we derive the idea of common sense today. |
| 1:06.0 | But what is common sense philosophy? |
| 1:08.0 | Who are its proponents and how did it emerge from the tides of skepticism, empiricism and rational inquiry running through 18th century Europe. |
| 1:15.6 | With me to discuss common sense philosophy are A.C. Graling, professor of philosophy at |
| 1:19.6 | Birkbeck University of London, Melissa Lane, senior Lecture in History at Cambridge University, |
| 1:25.0 | and Alexander Brody, Professor of Logic and rhetoric |
| 1:28.0 | at the University of Glasgow. |
| 1:30.0 | Anthony Graling, the idea of common sense philosophy might sound contradictory to a lot of people, so could you tell us how you see it? |
| 1:38.0 | Well, first we've got to distinguish, which is always the starting point in philosophy, between two quite different senses of common sense. |
| 1:44.2 | On the much older one which goes all the way back to Aristotle is the idea that because our different |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.