The Semiotics of Common Sense: Patterns of Meaning-Sharing in the Semiosphere

That which is usually called “common sense” is nothing but the complex deposit of implicit cognitive, pragmatic, and emotional rules through which the members of a society interact with each other and, simultaneously, affirm their belonging to the group. This sense is called “common” both because it is current – meaning that it permeates the daily life of the group in all its manifestations – and because it is shared: it is something that belongs to the community as a whole and something through which, at the same time, the members of the community can belong. What is the relation between “sense” and “common sense”? This question is extremely relevant to semiotics, hermeneutics, and the other disciplines and philosophies of interpretation.