“Must one believe that common sense is excluded from two such incompatible opinions?

“No, not at all.  An idea can be rejected or accepted by common sense without violating the principles of logic in the least.

“If, as one frequently sees, an idea be unacceptable because of having been presented before those belonging to a particular environment, common sense, by applying its laws, will recognize that the point of view must be changed before the idea can become acceptable.”

And again, Yoritomo calls our attention to a peculiar circumstance.

“Common sense,” he says, “is the art of resolving questions, not the art of posing them.

“When taking the initiative it is rarely on trial.

“But the moment it is a case of applying practically that which ingenuity, science or genius have invented, it intervenes in the happiest and most decisive manner.

“Common sense is the principle element of discernment.

“Therefore, without this quality, it is impossible to judge either of the proposition or the importance of the subject.

“It is only with the aid of common sense that it is possible to distinguish the exact nature of the proposition, submitted for a just appreciation, and to render a solution of it which conforms to perfect accuracy of interpretation.

“The last point is essential and has its judicial function in all the circumstances of life.  Without accuracy, common sense can not be satisfactorily developed, because it finds itself continually shocked by incoherency, resulting from a lack of exactness in the expression of opinions.”

If we wish to know what the principal qualities are which form common sense, we shall turn over a few pages and we shall read: 

“Common sense is the synthesis of many sentiments, all of which converge in forming it.

“The first of these sentiments is reason.

“Then follows moderation.

“To these one may add: 

“The faculty of penetration;

“The quality consistency.

“Then, wisdom, which permits us to profit by the lessons of experience.

“A number of other qualities must be added to these, in order to complete the formation of common sense; but, altho important, they are only the satellites of those we have just named.

“Reason is really indispensable to the projection of healthy thoughts.

“The method of reasoning should be the exhaustive study of minute detail, of which we shall speak later.

“For the moment we shall content ourselves by indicating, along the broad lines of argument, what is meant by this word reason.

“Reasoning is the art of fixing the relativeness of things.

“It is by means of reasoning that it is possible to differentiate events and to indicate to what category they belong.

“It is the habit of reasoning to determine that which it is wise to undertake, thus permitting us to judge what should be set aside.