Excerpt from The Economy of Happiness But perhaps it may be suspected that in Offering common sense as a universal panacea, I am seeking to avoid the re sponsibility of an ambitious claim by perpetrating a platitude. Anything may be labeled common sense - the name is free to whomsoever cares to employ it, and it is as easy for a so-phist to prate of common sense as for a corruptionist to prate Of patriotism. Before the solution proposed can be taken se riously then, it must be ascertained what we are really talking about - whether about a word or something more than a word. It is only reasonable to challenge such a claim as I have made by the direct question: Just what do you mean by common sense? TO judge from the mode in which the term is most Oftenrapplied, it appears to mean that kind Of sense the absence Of which men frequently notice in others, but never notice in themselves. Is this the variety of sense to which I have reference? NO - it is not; for though this variety Of sense is common, it is not common sense. By the term common sense I refer to a kind of sense sus ceptible Of tests which are independent of the convictions of any man or assemblage Of men. Its rigorous application re moves any problem from the realm Of Opinion, though not from that of probability. It is my purpose in Book I to Offer an analysis of common sense which will, in the measure required by the design Of this work, disclose the tests specified. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.