The concept of common sense in the epistemology of Karl Popper

Abstract

In this work, the concept of common sense in Karl Popper's epistemology is presented and discussed. In the first part, the role that the common sense plays in the Popperian falsacionist methodology is shown. In the second part, an interpretation of the common sense is proposed based on the evolutionary epistemology of Popper. The concept is conceived as a basic cognitive capacity acquired through the evolution of the species and the individual. In the final part topics such as the epistemic continuity between the common sense and the scientific kwnowledge, the common sense as immediate cognition, and its relation in the most basic form with the innate cognition of non-propositional character that may be shared with other species, are addressed.