Before Democracy: The Production and Uses of Common Sense.

This article attempts to correct a situation that common sense has been neglected as a historical variable, particularly the historians who have taken for granted its value in democracies. It tries to uncover the traces of common sense moving back through time and to explain how, and with what effects, this ghost has haunted modern life and, particularly, the emergence of modern democracy. It intends to reconsider the seemingly natural relationship between democracy and common sense, as theorized by Hannah Arendt, a political theorist.