“Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected …”
—Thomas Paine, “Common Sense,” 1776
On this day in 1776, Robert Bell published Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense.” The pamphlet’s plain-but-convincing arguments against the British monarchy spread like wildfire throughout the colonies and turned the tide of public opinion toward independence. In many ways, the pamphlet enjoyed a self-fulfilling title. By persuasively expressing its arguments in language and symbols accessible across the spectrum of educational experience, “Common Sense” became exactly that—generally held public wisdom.
Though the unifying power of common sense fueled a rebellion, the birth of a nation, and many of America’s countless achievements, common sense can also wield a more sinister type of power, one that penalizes differences and promotes inequity, resulting in systemic injustices such as slavery, immigration quotas, misogyny, redlining, Jim Crow laws, and more. In fact, the list of those harmed by ‘common sense’ is so long that one might wonder if consensus is laudable, let alone achievable, in the 21st century.
The Talmud, however, makes a compelling argument for tepid common sense, suggesting that consensus may be necessary for progress, but that divergent opinions must be recorded and honored as valid, lest they be unjustly silenced forever. Our tradition’s approach begs us to reconsider those ideas and thoughts we often share as common sense, to discover whether they reflect wisdom or folly.
—Rabbi Josh Knobel