It has often been claimed that the phrase ‘common sense’ occurs only three or four times in the Aristotelian corpus. However, the phrase ‘common sense’ can also be found in Historia Animalium I.3 489 ^a 17 and Metaphysics I.1 981 ^b 14. This chapter examines the two overlooked occurrences to see what the phrase ‘common sense’ means there. In the overlooked occurrences the phrase ‘common sense’ refers to the individual senses, to the sense of touch in particular, or to the five individual senses indiscriminately. There the phrase is not a proper name for any particular perceptual capacity, but rather a description applicable to the individual senses in certain contexts. Aristotle describes the individual senses as ‘common’ to bring out the fact that they are shared by animals of different species.
Keywords: Historia Animalium, Metaphysics, common sense, senses, touch