Semiotician Anna Maria Lorusso on Common Sense and Stereotypes

Key facts

• Anna Maria Lorusso teaches semiotics at the University of Bologna.
• She was president of the Italian Association of Semiotic Studies from 2017 to 2021.
• She has been a visiting professor in the US, Chile, Australia, Canada, and Argentina.
• Her research focuses on rhetorical-discursive dimensions of culture, memory, cultural heritage, collective narratives, stereotypes, and popularization of history through media.
• She authored 'Semiotica del testo giornalistico' (with Patrizia Violi, 2004), 'Metafora e conoscenza' (2005), 'La trama del testo' (2006), 'Umberto Eco' (2008), 'Semiotica della cultura' (2010), 'Postverità' (2018), and 'L'utilità del senso comune' (2022).
• The interview was published on Artribune in November 2022.
• Lorusso distinguishes 'senso comune' (social, shared beliefs) from 'buon senso' (individual judgment).
• She cites Manzoni's 'Promessi sposi' on the opposition between common sense and good sense.
• Common sense is based on shared sensory and perceptual experience, rooted in Aristotle's notion of a common root of the five senses.
• Common sense functions through self-legitimization, pretending universality without external verification, similar to Kantian aesthetic judgment.
• Stereotypes are essential for managing complexity but require critical vigilance; they change slowly and cannot be replaced by individual will.
• Lorusso rehabilitates clichés as rhetorical resources, following Roland Barthes' idea of 'inhabiting' them consciously.
• The interview is part of Artribune's 'Dialoghi di Estetica' series.