• How to support common sense in Academia? 05/07/2017

  An important bit of insight in behavioural expertise is that it really requires a lot of experience. Practical wisdom, or phronesis, as Aristotle called it, is the kind of expertise – if you would call it that – that would contribute to the intellectual improvement of our capacity to live by enlightened normative expectations. There … Continue reading “How to support common sense in Academia?”

• Is common sense reactionary? 08/05/2017

  No, common sense is not reactionary. I argue in the book that the basic slogan “Automatic pilot if possible and investigative attitude if necessary” shows that the capacity for critical thinking is a crucial part of common sense. When I wrote the book it seemed the principal opponent of common sense was a scientistic kind … Continue reading “Is common sense reactionary?”

• Humaning 07/05/2017

  The basic idea of ‘humaning’ is to draw the reader’s attention to an extremely interesting human capacity, namely that of relating meaningfully to one’s own activity. People live (verb) their life (noun); they account for what they do. I explain in the book how the fact that we are talking animals, i.e. that we have … Continue reading “Humaning”

• The accessibility of expertise 06/05/2017

  There is something disquieting about the very idea of ‘expertise’, something that should concern all of us. When you are an expert you have good and often decisive reasons for certain actions, but the more such reasons are grounded in your expertise the less you may be capable of explaining them fully to laypeople. That … Continue reading “The accessibility of expertise”

• Evidence, expertise, and common sense 05/05/2017

  Evidence is an often ill-understood notion which sounds technical and suggests not merely the epistemic authority of a scientist or research team, but something much stronger and more robust. If you have evidence you have the support of reality itself. But compare this for a moment with one of the little everyday things of life, … Continue reading “Evidence, expertise, and common sense”