Abstract

SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY, COMMON SENSE: HOW THE EXTRAORDINARY COULD TURN INTO THE OBVIOUS The paper is devoted to an examination of some aspects of the relation between science, philosophy and common sense. By referring to crucial episodes of the history of astronomy and physics such as the Copernican Revolution and the birth of Relativity Theory, attention is paid to the process by which new scientific ideas contrasting with deeply entrenched intuitions and socially shared beliefs are gradually absorbed into the conceptual schema underlying common sense. Some light is thrown on the role that philosophy can play in that process.