Common Sense – What’s Old is News

By Sean Graham

This week, I talk with Michael North, author of author of Making Common Sense: On the Construction of the Obvious from Antiquity to AI. We talk about what counts as ‘common’ sense, its relation to the 5 senses, and how that understanding shaped perceptions of common sense. We then get into a discussion about the modern understanding of common sense, the difference between that and reason, and how algorithms and AI are shaping our understanding of what counts as ‘common’ sense.

Historical Headline of the Week

Jo Marchant, “The American Revolution’s Overlooked Influence? Physics. How ‘Common Sense’ Spelled Out Astronomical Expectations for a New Nation,” Smithsonian Magazine, Summer 2026.

Sean Graham is a cultural historian, an Adjunct Professor at Carleton University, and a contributing editor with Activehistory.ca