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Is there even such a thing as "common sense"?

Is there even such a thing as "common sense"?

  • Yes

    Votes: 15 42.9%
  • No

    Votes: 11 31.4%
  • To a certain degree

    Votes: 8 22.9%
  • Other

    Votes: 1 2.9%

  • Total voters
    35

radcen

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Is there even such a thing as "common sense"?

One would think so, but as I interact and observe more and more, the less I think it exists at all. Even the simplest things no one can agree on. So, what's 'common' about anything?

No. The older I get the more I think "common sense" is merely something we want to believe in.
 
To me, the term common sense just refers to the most logical answer to a problem or question, and isn't necessarily common at all (in numbers).
 
Is there even such a thing as "common sense"?

One would think so, but as I interact and observe more and more, the less I think it exists at all. Even the simplest things no one can agree on. So, what's 'common' about anything?

No. The older I get the more I think "common sense" is merely something we want to believe in.

Common sense is a learned fact based and non emotional reasoning ability. Does it exist? Certainly. Is it taught and/or practiced? Oh, hell no ! At least not by many.

The generations born since the late 60s have been taught to respond emotionally, idyllically, and perceptually without black and white facts; or the ability to formulate facts.

Emotional idealism and group think social correctness has replaced curiosity, courtesy, and the hard learned skill of listening; lacking those acquired abilities results in a lack of common sense.

Common sense most easily equates with math. Gather facts no matter how grand or ugly, add, subtract, multiply, and divide... arrive at the answer then if it warrants, season the answer with emotion.

Pick up my latest best seller available at all quality book stores.. "Common Sense" or "The Rights of Man"

:mrgreen: ( that was supposed to be funny )

Good eve to you R

Thom Paine
 
Common sense requires critical thought. Something that is no longer taught in our schools. I wonder why? Maybe because the powers that be would prefer a populous that lacks the ability to perform critical thought or analysis?

When I was in school (college) one the courses I enjoyed the most was a course called "Critical Thinking." Every citizen of the US should be required to take such a course, as well as a course in Civics - another course that is no longer taught in public schools (and that makes me wonder why as well). In the military, we were also taught critical thinking skills. Part of that course was focused on checking, determining and defining our SA (situational awareness). Something that is sorely needed by the civilian population as well.

On the other hand, there is something I call "Country Boy Common Sense." That, too, is learned. It is gained by growing up on a farm where you have to learn how to do so much for so long with so little, that you are then qualified to anything with nothing. In other words, you learn to make things work to fit the need and make do. You learn to question everything and never take no for an answer or to give up because it's just too damned hard. You learn to... think.

Thinking is a taught skill, not an innate talent.
 
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Common sense is a learned fact based and non emotional reasoning ability. Does it exist? Certainly. Is it taught and/or practiced? Oh, hell no ! At least not by many.

The generations born since the late 60s have been taught to respond emotionally, idyllically, and perceptually without black and white facts; or the ability to formulate facts.

Emotional idealism and group think social correctness has replaced curiosity, courtesy, and the hard learned skill of listening; lacking those acquired abilities results in a lack of common sense.

Common sense most easily equates with math. Gather facts no matter how grand or ugly, add, subtract, multiply, and divide... arrive at the answer then if it warrants, season the answer with emotion.

Pick up my latest best seller available at all quality book stores.. "Common Sense" or "The Rights of Man"

:mrgreen: ( that was supposed to be funny )

Good eve to you R

Thom Paine

Great post. Wish I would have seen it before I posted mine.
 
Common sense requires critical thought. Something that is no longer taught in our schools. I wonder why? Maybe because the powers that be would prefer a populous that lacks the ability to perform critical thought or analysis?

When I was in school (college) one the courses I enjoyed the most was a course called "Critical Thinking." Every citizen of the US should be required to take such a course, as well as a course in Civics - another course that is no longer taught in public schools (and that makes me wonder why as well). In the military, we were also taught critical thinking skills. Part of that course was focused on checking, determining and defining our SA (situational awareness). Something that is sorely needed by the civilian population as well.

On the other hand, there is something I call "Country Boy Common Sense." That, too, is learned. It is gained by growing up on a farm where you have to learn how to do so much for so long with so little, that you are then qualified to anything with nothing. In other words, you learn to make things work to fit the need and make do. You learn to question everything and never take no for an answer or to give up because it's just too damned hard. You learn to... think.

Thinking is a taught skill, not an innate talent.

Good evening Beaudreaux,

Quite well stated and 'seasoned' with examples of how we grew to adulthood.

All the best to you and Yes Ma'am

Thom Paine
 
Common sense requires critical thought. Something that is no longer taught in our schools. I wonder why? Maybe because the powers that be would prefer a populous that lacks the ability to perform critical thought or analysis?

When I was in school (college) one the courses I enjoyed the most was a course called "Critical Thinking." Every citizen of the US should be required to take such a course, as well as a course in Civics - another course that is no longer taught in public schools (and that makes me wonder why as well). In the military, we were also taught critical thinking skills. Part of that course was focused on checking, determining and defining our SA (situational awareness). Something that is sorely needed by the civilian population as well.

On the other hand, there is something I call "Country Boy Common Sense." That, too, is learned. It is gained by growing up on a farm where you have to learn how to do so much for so long with so little, that you are then qualified to anything with nothing. In other words, you learn to make things work to fit the need and make do. You learn to question everything and never take no for an answer or to give up because it's just too damned hard. You learn to... think.

Thinking is a taught skill, not an innate talent.

I too recall a 'Critical Thinking" class... it really should be required, maybe in High School.

On the other hand, there is something I call "Country Boy Common Sense." That, too, is learned. It is gained by growing up on a farm where you have to learn how to do so much for so long with so little, that you are then qualified to anything with nothing. In other words, you learn to make things work to fit the need and make do. You learn to question everything and never take no for an answer or to give up because it's just too damned hard. You learn to... think.


Early youthful lessons... Observe, Adapt, Overcome ... sounds like a slogan, a motto, a mantra for success and how to stay alive no matter the circumstance.. I s'pect you've heard and said those words many times.

Celebrate life

Thom Paine
 
I too recall a 'Critical Thinking" class... it really should be required, maybe in High School.
It should be a required class to graduate high school.




Early youthful lessons... Observe, Adapt, Overcome ... sounds like a slogan, a motto, a mantra for success and how to stay alive no matter the circumstance.. I s'pect you've heard and said those words many times.

Celebrate life

Thom Paine

Oh yeah... except, for the record, the saying is - Improvise, Adapt and Overcome - which originated in the US Marine Corps, and has been adopted by SOF's of all branches.
 
Yes, there is. It's a concept and like similar concepts (ex military intelligence, proportionate response) it's often referred to and rarely achieved.

NOW GET OFF OF MY LAWN!!!
 
Common sense requires critical thought. Something that is no longer taught in our schools. I wonder why? Maybe because the powers that be would prefer a populous that lacks the ability to perform critical thought or analysis?

When I was in school (college) one the courses I enjoyed the most was a course called "Critical Thinking." Every citizen of the US should be required to take such a course, as well as a course in Civics - another course that is no longer taught in public schools (and that makes me wonder why as well).

I agree. I took a course in Logic in college and it is the only textbook that I still have and review periodically. If nothing else, it taught me how to steer clear of fallacious arguments.
 
I agree. I took a course in Logic in college and it is the only textbook that I still have and review periodically. If nothing else, it taught me how to steer clear of fallacious arguments.

I have mine, too. Logic, is but one part of critical thinking. Logic, analytics, research, evaluation, conclusions, ethical testing and analytics again (that's the way I was taught - however after a Google search for an image, they seemed to have changed it around a bit to make it sound more difficult). Logic is the basis for the process, but is not the whole process. Pragmatism is most times a result, but not always, if emotion enters into the process. Common sense and critical thinking are fouled (or foiled) by emotion. Pure logic, excludes emotion as well (live long and prosper).
 
Common sense seems to be no more than an appeal to authority or tradition. It's the justification someone gives when they have no actual reasons to back up their argument. It's usually just a fallback to justify a position grounded in ignorance.
 
I too recall a 'Critical Thinking" class... it really should be required, maybe in High School.

It is required, starting sooner than high school.

It just doesn't always take.

Like math. You can teach probabilities, and the students will still buy lottery tickets and play the slots when they grow up.
 
The smarter you are, the less common sense you have.
 
Common sense requires critical thought. Something that is no longer taught in our schools. I wonder why? Maybe because the powers that be would prefer a populous that lacks the ability to perform critical thought or analysis?

When I was in school (college) one the courses I enjoyed the most was a course called "Critical Thinking." Every citizen of the US should be required to take such a course, as well as a course in Civics - another course that is no longer taught in public schools (and that makes me wonder why as well). In the military, we were also taught critical thinking skills. Part of that course was focused on checking, determining and defining our SA (situational awareness). Something that is sorely needed by the civilian population as well.

On the other hand, there is something I call "Country Boy Common Sense." That, too, is learned. It is gained by growing up on a farm where you have to learn how to do so much for so long with so little, that you are then qualified to anything with nothing. In other words, you learn to make things work to fit the need and make do. You learn to question everything and never take no for an answer or to give up because it's just too damned hard. You learn to... think.

Thinking is a taught skill, not an innate talent.
I like your points, but I cannot fully agree with your last sentence. Sure, teaching helps, but innate talent does play a part as well. Not everyone has equal ability to absorb and learn from lessons. I've known way too many people who were "book smart", but had no common sense whatsoever, and they never will no matter how hard they try. On the flip side, I know a guy who couldn't hold an intellectual conversation if his life depended on it, but I envy his day-to-day common sense.
 
I like your points, but I cannot fully agree with your last sentence. Sure, teaching helps, but innate talent does play a part as well. Not everyone has equal ability to absorb and learn from lessons. I've known way too many people who were "book smart", but had no common sense whatsoever, and they never will no matter how hard they try. On the flip side, I know a guy who couldn't hold an intellectual conversation if his life depended on it, but I envy his day-to-day common sense.

Very true. I stand corrected, or at least modified.
 
to a certain degree

Much like common knowledge, common sense isn't common. Some things that are common knowledge are known by less than half of the population. Common sense is much rarer. You only need to read the posts on this site to see how common non sequiturs are. In most threads, people on both sides of the issue are doing it, and if someone isn't doing it in the first thread that you look at, they're probably doing it in many other threads. I would guestimate that 1% of the population has common sense, and it doesn't correlate strongly with IQ.
 
I think we're all born with plenty of common sense, but it gets clouded by some of the things that we're taught when we're young. Of course we need to keep learning when we're adults, but we also need to unlearn.
 
Is there even such a thing as "common sense"
?

One would think so, but as I interact and observe more and more, the less I think it exists at all. Even the simplest things no one can agree on. So, what's 'common' about anything?

No. The older I get the more I think "common sense" is merely something we want to believe in.



I'm going to say yes there is, but it's mighty uncommon.

Some people have it, but a lot of people don't.
 
I too recall a 'Critical Thinking" class... it really should be required, maybe in High School.

Except school is not there to teach you how to think, they are there to teach you what to think, and to train you to be a good employee.
 
Except school is not there to teach you how to think, they are there to teach you what to think, and to train you to be a good employee.

Sadly, it is a difference between schools of today and schools of my time.

Thom Paine
 
Common sense is knowledge acquired by senses that are in turn shared by all healthy humans.
 
Many of the people that I've known in my life that claim to have a lot of common sense, didn't graduate High School. They like to assume that what they know about living life is a good substitute for an education.
 
Except school is not there to teach you how to think, they are there to teach you what to think, and to train you to be a good employee.


Spoken by someone who has no idea at all what schools are mandated to teach in the 21st. century.
 
In Jarrod Diamond's Guns Germs and Steel, he made a connection between intelligence,
and how close someone lives to a dangerous environment.
I think this had more to do with the not so intelligent people getting weeded out early.
He implied modern civilization, did not improve intelligence, as our structured society
allowed the not so intelligent to not only survive, but propagate.
 
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