I don’t understand the term “common sense.” What the hell does it mean? The barfly where I work states religiously that he follows a common sense philosophy and that it is the ONLY way to think about things in the world. See, I understand using the term in referrence to not doing stupid things – yes, it is common sense NOT to use a chainsaw to trim your pubes…anyway…

Can we apply the term to philosophical, moral, and ethical debates? I don’t know! It seems to me that “common sense” means basic instincts. As human beings, however, we have anything but basic instincts. We have some instinctual survival mechanisms, but we do not have instincts that tell us if it is morally incorrect to kill someone. We have constructed laws to tell us how to conduct ourselves which we designed to better our chances of survival; but the animal human being is not a moral being.

Does common sense refer to the majority? The status quo? If we governed ourselves in accordance with majority rules -meaning that freedom of free thought is illegitimate – it might make something like Nazism justifiable. The people had a common view (either enforced or freely supported) which was that, for example, Jews were worse than the plague. Common sense therefore dictates that the Jews should be eliminated.

Or is that too extreme a definition? Maybe common sense shouldn’t be applied to something like national governance. How do we explain, then, the application of common sense to anything? If a choice is made and is determined to be a common sense decision, what does it mean? When we narrow it down, I think common sense in the realm of epistomological thought (outside the confines of instinctual behaviour) simply means “self-affirmation of a thought or ideal which in no way applies to any other individual unless he is of similar mind.” “Common sense” is merely an admission of the inability to communicate an opposing ideology in a convincing manner.

How do we make common sense decisions (which are seemingly instinctual decisions) in a world where human instinct does not exist? How do we apply common sense to the complexities of western society when so much is dependent upon constructs that exist as a result of unnatural (man made) intervention? I can understand “should I poke sleeping sabre-tooth tiger with stick?” (it is instinctual); But I can’t understand “is abortion a viable option for unwanted pregnancies?” being dealt with by a common sense creed.

When put in those terms, common sense becomes simply a rejection of complex thought. Or any thought.

I categorize common sense as a means to the ultimate circular argument. For example:
A.”Gay marriage is wrong.”
B. “Why?”
A. “Because it isn’t right”
B. “Oh, do you abject to it for religious reasons?”
A. “No. It just isn’t common sense.”
B. “Um, why?”
A. “Because it isn’t”
ad nauseum…
It basically pushes an assertion without having any supporting facts, evidence, moral concerns.
If everyone had common sense we’d either live in a socialist utopia; or we’d have destroyed the earth long ago. What I mean is: if everyone thought the same way, society would be a breeze. There would be no war, everyone would share, every single person would be cared for…
Or every single individual would declare that their common sense was the greatest and we’d all kill each other.

Of course, proponents of common sense think otherwise:(from Wikipedia)

The Scottish philosopher Thomas Reid, a contemporary of Hume and the founder of the so-called Scottish School of Common Sense, devotes considerable space in his Inquiry and the Intellectual Powers developing a theory of common sense. While he never gives a definition, per se, he does offer a number of so-called “earmarks” of common sense (which he sometimes calls “principles of common sense”), such as

* principles of common sense are believed universally (with the apparent exceptions of some philosophers and the insane);
* it is appropriate to ridicule the denial of common sense;
* the denial of principles of common sense leads to contradictions.

I guess what that means is: I’m right, you’re wrong. There is no reason to question it – I’m right. There is no room for your view and I don’t have to justify it because I have common sense…

Albert Einstein said: “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”

And there we have it summed up by the world’s most brilliant man.

I would love it, by the way, if somebody refuted this. I’d actually like to hear a proponent’s perspective.

Have a great vacation Ken!!

Enjoy and get recharged! Best regards —

Hey Ken,

Bon voyage and enjoy. Just returned from two weeks away with a fresh perspective.

See you on the flip side.

I hope the vacation went well. I get a few days off in September. We’ll be going to Skidmore, Missouri’s Freedom Fest,http://www.skidmorefreedomfest.com/ we go every year. It is an event to honor all the Veterans that have ever served in our Armed Forces. I get three weeks vacation a year, but for the last three years most of my vacation time has been spent visiting my wife when she was in the hospital, or I was in the hospital myself. Those are very expensive vacations.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic.

(responses)

Superman- Common Sense refers to both avoiding patently stupid behavior, but also to a philosophy that espouses individual freedom so long as it harms no others, a shared sense of social duty and civic participation. It does not, as you analogize, resemble an argument with no basis in fact, which may, but is not always, a common sense solution to a problem. Common Sense requires an ability to back up ones action or philosophy with at least one of the following: fact, experience, concensus.

By no means is Common Sense a necessarily static set of rules, but an ever changing paradigm in accordance to the times in which one lives. Common Sense medical advice in the 1700’s was based on the best information available to the general population of physicians, but taken in today’s light, makes little sense at all.

And yet other things could be described as universally Common Sense. Actions that cause others harm are eschewed by the great majority of humans, and thus it becomes Common Sense that to harm another will result in your own loss of freedom or life. This is but one example of this kind of Common Sense.

Cultural norms vary widely and what may seem as Common Sense to one group of people may seem ludicrous to another group. In this manner, Common Sense may not be universal per se, but if taken at a more fundamental level, and removing the cultural bias from the equation, actions or words can be defined in terms of Common Sense by whether they deprive others of freedom, harm others, or subject others to an unjust act.

In cases where morality, religion, or tradition conflict with modern interpretations of Common Sense, I think one should apply a simple test: Does this act harm anyone else purposely or thoughtlessly for no reason other than to subvert their free will? Does this act cause harm to another, their property, or their freedom for no other reason than to enforce my own opinions? If the answer to either of these is “Yes,” then perhaps one is not acting with Common Sense, but instead with selfish sense.

At least, this is what it means to me. Glad to have your comments.

Damascene- Thanks for the support. I think there are a lot of people like this, just maybe too busy or unsure of how to voice their support. Come back again!

Chandira, OKDem, HI. Windspike, & David- Thanks! Vacation was great (and a little spendier than I planned, but hey- It’s VACATION!) but it’s good to be back. Hope you got a chance to do some reading while I was away.

CoolAqua- I snagged the Coexist banner from ShaeNC at Constantly Amazed )link in the Blogroll). Feel free to copy it to your own site. Hope I left you with some good reading!

Anonymous- I am glad you enjoy the site, but would be even more glad to have a relevant comment on the topic, or anything besides a pitch for your website. Do come back, but please leave your advertisements at home.

Thanks for the response. I will return to the books and retort! I like the blog, by the way.