An Inquiry on the Principles of Common Sense

[shkrobius]

Once upon a time there was a philosopher trying to solve a difficult epistemiology problem: how does a sheep know that there is a wolf standing in front of it? There is sensory input, but how does this input becomes a wolf? The Philosopher believed that animals, unlike us, do not have reason, so this integration cannot be the function of their

Comments

[zlyuk]

my common sense suggests me that you meant "Dr. Rush" ,instead of "Dr. Reid", in the last passages.

anyway, it looks like Reid's views were similar to how we usually understand Kant now (except it took Kant's genius to make these into the full philosophical system), and it was there that the main step occured. the following transformations seem to me like mere adapting to the social needs of language (or, if you prefer conspiracy theories - to the needs of those who govern the word).
and what is known about the russian translation of this (здравый смысл)?

[shkrobius]

That's not how Kant viewed it; he was Reid's most determined and vitriolic critic, as these two have different metaphysics of causation. Reid strikes me as a fellow who was unable or unwilling to calculate the most obvious consequences of his own doctrine, as it was not, really, entirely philosophical; it was a means to serve his other agendas.

As for Russian, it must be the recent term: e.g., it is not in Dal's dictionary. Usually it comes either from French or German. I think it is an appropriation from French (bon sens); in German, there is a sharp distinction between the original meaning (say, Alltagsverstand or Gemeinsinn) and colloqual one (Menschenverstand or Laienverstand), the two never fused. Even that was not good enough for Germans: English "common sense" was typically left untranslated. In Polish good, sane = zdrowy and common sense is "zdrowy rozsadek", so it could be "bon sens" imported to Russian via Polish. I am guessing here, because I did not find anything on the etymology of this term in Russian.