Vol. 10 (2025): Philosophy of the Sensus Communis. The Public, the Individual, the Cultural Practices
Dossier: Philosophy of the Sensus Communis. The Public, the Individual, the Cultural Practices

Shaftesbury and Sensus Communis – An Unfinished Project

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  • Anthony Pollock
Anthony Pollock
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/ds-15918

Published 2025-12-31

Keywords

  • Shaftesbury,
  • sensus communis,
  • universality,
  • wit,
  • self-reflection

How to Cite

Pollock, A. (2025). Shaftesbury and Sensus Communis – An Unfinished Project. Diciottesimo Secolo, 10, 33–42. https://doi.org/10.36253/ds-15918

Copyright (c) 2025 Anthony Pollock

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

In the context of current critical debates about the viability of universal categories (e.g. reason, community, justice), this article examines Shaftesbury’s complicated engagement with the ideal of sensus communis, focusing primarily on the three texts that comprise the original first volume of Characteristics (1711): A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm; Sensus Communis, an Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour; and Soliloquy, or Advice to an Author. Scholars have often read these less formal works by Shaftesbury through the lens of the more conventionally monologic and declamatory philosophy he articulated in the Inquiry Concerning Virtue or Merit. Against the grain of this tendency, which emphasizes the confident idealism of Shaftesbury’s thinking about sensus communis, this article reveals his deep-seated skepticism about the related projects of defining and achieving the kind of shared understanding and commitment to the public good to which this concept refers.

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