Uncommon Sense: The Strangest Ideas from the Smartest Philosophers

A Provocative Invitation To Philosophy

Andrew Pessin's recent book "Uncommon Sense" the Strangest Ideas from the Smartest Philosophers" (2012) is less an introduction to philosophy, as it might be taught in a college course for freshmen, than an invitation to engage in philosophical thinking. Pessin is Professor of Philosophy at Connecticut College. He has written technical books and papers about philosophy of mind and early modern philosophy, together with books, such as "Uncommon Sense" which aim to make philosophy appealing to a broad group of readers. Early in "Uncommon Sense", Pessin defines "philosophy" as "what you get when you begin to actually think about things." He elaborates:

"When you begin to think about what's right before your eyes and start to see questions where you previously assumed there were facts. When you begin to think about things in a new way, in a bigger way, beyond the here and now; when you begin to ask not merely how things really are but why they are, why there exists something rather than nothing at all, and how we are capable even of knowing that there exists something rather than nothing."

Pessin contrasts philosophical thought to the uncritical, unreflective common sense that most people from all times have inherited from their childhood. "It's what we believe about things when we don't give them much thought", Pessin writes. In his book, Pessin challenges unreflective thinking on a series of varied and mutually inconsistent fronts. He takes 18 important philosophical positions offered by 19 different philosophers. (The last section of the book is a combination of two named philosophers, together with others.) Pessin shows how each of these positions fly in the face, or seem to do so, of unreflective thought. He offers explanations of the problem the philosophical position in question was designed to address and of the arguments the philosopher advanced in support of the conclusion. Although he drops hints, in most instances Pessin does not offer his own opinion of the merits of the position under discussion. Rather, he articulates the reasons the philosopher advanced and his response to some of the more immediate objections before leaving matters at that for the reader to pursue and ponder.

Pessin writes engagingly and colloquially with many homey, easily understood examples. Each chapter is punctuated with short, lead-in subheadings which hold the reader's interest. The argumentative sections of the book tend to be tightly drawn for new readers. The style on the whole is provocative, in the manner of a gifted teacher who seeks to wake students from what Kant might call their uncritical "dogmatic slumbers".

The eighteen chapters include some familiar and unfamiliar figures. The book generally avoids the temptation to recount the history of philosophy under a new guise. It begins with Plato and his theory of Forms and Aristotle. The latter philosopher is generally and properly seen as kinder to common sense than his predecessor, but Pessin offers an excellent exposition of an early Aristotelian teaching on the nature of logical necessity. Next Pessin offers four medieval philosophers, Augustine, Anselm, Maimonides, and Aquinas, exploring various difficult ideas centering on theism. I found Pessin's discussion of Anselm's ontological argument for God's existence and of Maimonides' difficult discussion of the eternity of the world the most interesting of this group.

Next is a selection of seven early modern philosophers, beginning with Descartes, that focus on mind-body dualism and its consequences. The selection includes many familiar names, including Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, and Hume. Pessin also includes Malebranche, who is frequently not studied in simple introductions to the modern period, and excludes two seminally important figures: Spinoza and Kant. Spinoza's omission is made up for late in the book. Pessin offers good, pithy discussions of these founders of modern philosophical thought. He captures something of what they about in a short space, with the exception of the treatment of Leibniz, which I thought abrupt and over-simplified. (Later in the book, Pessin qualifies his treatment of Leibniz.)

Next, Pessin offers an excellent discussion of the solitary figure of Nietzsche, followed by a discussion of the lesser-known early 20th Century philosopher John McTaggart, whose denial of the existence of time became (without Pessin so stating) one of the targets of early British analytical philosophy. It was probably valuable to introduce McTaggart on time, rather than several other philosophers, Kant included, that Pessin might have used.

The final sections of the book were of most interest to me. They included a discussion of Wittgenstein on private languages, Hilary Putnam, whose thought has changed many times over a distinguished career, on meaning, David Lewis on the actual existence of possible worlds, and Thomas Nagel and David Chalmers on panpsychism and on setting aside mind-body dualism. Although not so designated, the final chapter appears to be something of a summation in which Pessin indicates his own philosophical leanings. The chapter briefly draws support from Spinoza, who was omitted in the chapters on early modern philosophy, and from William James, among other thinkers. Pessin's discussion moved me to want to read more of Lewis, whom I have not read, and Chalmers.

When thought of as a discipline, philosophy differs from, say, mathematics or chemistry in that the subjects the student learns at the beginning are essentially the same as the subjects the philosopher thinks about after engaging for many years. Pessin's book is lively, informed, and provocative in an appealing way. Broader in scope than an introduction to philosophy, the book will encourage new readers to think philosophically. The book also will challenge readers familiar with philosophical thought and the philosophers that Pessin discusses.

Robin Friedman