Common sense

Post Reply New Topic

"Common sense is not a gift, it's a punishment. Because you have to deal with everyone who doesn't have it."

Discuss.

Uggh, few things raise my hackles like people who invoke "common sense" when arguing, it's a completely meaningless term deployed by people who can't properly support their own position.

I'm not a big fan of things that are common. I do like sensible things though

Common Sense I think is something people confuse with experience.

I used to run into it a lot where I would hit a brick wall with something, then get told, you should know better, common sense says to do this, and I'd go but I've never done this before, why the heck would I know that. Now that I'm more experienced, humanities tech base has increased to make research easier through the internet, and services are easier to outsource, I rarely run into situations now where I get called on for not having any common sense. It pretty much happens when I realize I'm in over my head and seek out help that it comes up.

I like this definition "Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down by the mind before you reach eighteen." A.Einstein

In other words do not rely on what you believe to be true look for actual evidence and understanding.Applying knee jerk common sense is often erroneous and biased.It is a very fallible decision making practice.

Common sense is not sticking your tongue in a blender. However the term is often used to downgrade political in philosophical differences of opinion, which is very common but also lacks sense.