The Common Is the Collective

The Analytics of Common Sense and Its Normative Consequences for Imagination

Dados Bibliográficos

ID19221981
AutoresThomas Telios (0000-0001-5801-6791, University of St.Gallen, autor correspondente)
Ano2026
Volume31
Fascículo1
Páginas36-55
Data de publicação2026-01-02
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAngelaki (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0969-725X • E-ISSN: 1469-2899
EditoraRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0969725x.2026.2620308
OpenAlexW7128988825
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas28

In this paper, I follow Avshalom Schwartz's (2024) recent suggestion to treat Aristotle's imagination as “the psychological microfoundations of collective action and thus helps explain how we can move from individual psychology to collective agency and action.” As I argue, though, imagination can unravel such a political function thanks to the fact that it is an affection (πάθος) of what Aristotle introduces and calls “common sense” (κοινὴ αἴσθησις). In support of this argument, I start by presenting Schwartz's reasoning as to why imagination can qualify as the psychological foundation of collective actions. Building upon that, I return to Aristotle's concept of common sense to sketch its functions. In addition, I qualify common sense as a σύνολον, a condition of individuation, and, leaning on Catherine Malabou and Jacques Derrida, an analysis of common sense as a collective event. In doing so, common sense is disclosed as a collective, both logical-analytical and normative, process that acknowledges, fosters, and accommodates difference. It is thanks to such an understanding of common sense that imagination can act as a regulative and inclusive fundament that can furnish the community with a common, yet inclusive and non-hierarchical or excluding common goal. In conclusion, I hint at further intertwinements of Aristotle's conceptualization of common sense with concepts like memory and utopia

Action (physics) · Agency (philosophy) · Collective action · Common sense · Conceptualization · Contingency · Foundation (evidence) · Function (biology) · Microfoundations · Evolution and Science Education · Japanese History and Culture · Study and Philosophy of Religion