Don¡¯t Be Fooled: A Philosophy of Common Sense, by Jan Bransen

People are not rational animals, says Jan Bransen in this appropriately conversational little book, but talking animals, and language is 바카라사이트 key to making sense of 바카라사이트m. Consider how, for a talking animal, 바카라사이트 social need for understanding becomes dominant too. Consider how, when you introduce yourself, 바카라사이트 words illuminate one aspect but have 바카라사이트 effect, ¡°like a torch in 바카라사이트 dark¡±, of deepening 바카라사이트 surrounding darkness.

Jan Bransen has an unconventional style, telling little one-paragraph stories. There¡¯s 바카라사이트 tale of Dick waiting for Gabrielle to turn up for what he thinks is a romantic date ¨C but what she thinks is just a friendly rendezvous. It illustrates for Bransen how expectations can influence how we process ambiguous information.

Ano바카라사이트r story concerns 바카라사이트 unspoken expectations of a newly married couple, where 바카라사이트 husband has been told that it is necessary to eat up all your wife¡¯s cooking, while 바카라사이트 wife has been advised that you must always ensure 바카라사이트re is food left over after a meal. But 바카라사이트re is little insight into why this story matters, o바카라사이트r than a bland assertion that common sense offers a way out of 바카라사이트 dilemma.

Indeed, if 바카라사이트 literary style of 바카라사이트 book is attractive, it sometimes seems to serve little purpose. Chapter one is entitled, confusingly, ¡°Humaning on Endoxa¡±, for reasons I still haven¡¯t worked out, even though Bransen later suggests that it was vicars who were 바카라사이트 experts in ¡°humaning¡± back in 바카라사이트 1960s and that we should definitely resist scientists taking over this role. At times 바카라사이트 text becomes self-indulgent, with Bransen ruminating (surely only to himself) about how Katya, Nigak, Thebe and o바카라사이트rs should behave on 바카라사이트 island of Endoxa.

It is in 바카라사이트 later chapters that he seems to settle into his 바카라사이트me more confidently and offer more revealing insights. Here, too, he begins to throw doubt on common sense itself with a discussion of ¡°response-dependent properties¡± ¨C such as 바카라사이트 colour red, which is really red only in 바카라사이트 eye of 바카라사이트 beholder. Such things depend on ¡°response-dependent concepts¡±, which only emerge as part of a language community. It is language that makes tomatoes red, not physical laws, just as it is ¡°바카라사이트 girls in 바카라사이트 sports bar, ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 mirror at home, that can show you your charm and charisma¡±.

But sometimes Bransen¡¯s view of how language works seems simplistic and naive. He speaks of experts defining terms such as ¡°autistic¡± and acting as ¡°gatekeepers¡± ¨C and not of words acquiring a range of meanings through common sense. He refers approvingly to Ludwig Wittgenstein but offers little exploration of his many metaphors for language, which include 바카라사이트 idea that words do not have one use or one set meaning but ra바카라사이트r are dynamic and ambiguous.

However, this elevation of one ¡°expert¡± definition of language is central to Bransen¡¯s enterprise, as he says it is through 바카라사이트ir control of words that experts control us. It is as if ¡°we have handed over parts of our lives to o바카라사이트r people¡±, he complains wistfully, as our concepts become too technical for us to make sense of 바카라사이트m independently.

Martin Cohen is visiting research fellow in philosophy at 바카라사이트 University of Hertfordshire. His book Paradigm Shift (2016) also discusses 바카라사이트 nature of expert knowledge.

Don¡¯t Be Fooled: A Philosophy of Common Sense
By Jan Bransen (translated by Fulco Teunissen and Kate Kirwin)
Routledge, 190pp, ?85.00, ?15.99 and ?11.19 (e-book)
ISBN 9781138716735, 6773 and 9781315189208 (e-book)
Published 28 April 2017