21st Century Agora: Common Sense?

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Common Sense?

I wanted to answer one of Mr. Perkins questions from class about the strengths and weaknesses of common sense. I believe the class concluded that it's weakness is that common sense does have some exceptions. We also mentioned that one of its strengths was common sense is a good place to start to base your knowledge, when it is all you have. However that made me wonder, is there any situation in which our only way of knowing is common sense? It seemed that it was a controversial way to acquire knowlegde, so why is it used so often?

1 comment:

Magister P said...: Great question, Sarah. Why do I often take the long way to get from place A to B when I know a better way? I suppose it has to do with my comfort level and overall laziness. I am prone to use those things that work and that I am comfortable with, even if there are better ways. What do you think?; September 5, 2007 at 1:39 PM

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Today, when I went to open my links to my required reading for my Intro to International Studies, I laughed out loud as I read the title of the second article we had to read:
Epistemology: How You Know What You Know.
Something tells me I am already very well prepared for this course thanks to two years of thinking in one class. I hope all is well with you and your classes at North Central and thanks again for two years of one of the best classes I ever took. Alley Murphy

I'm finishing the last 20 pages of the marathon that is Will Durant's Story of Philosophy. You should recommend its 400 dense (both in words and concepts per square inch) pages of 1920's ornate and pristine prose to any exceptional student; if they start now, it would supplement their ToK experience and undoubtedly imbue them with remarkable writing ability. Although I realize that ToK isn't a philosophical survey course, I can't help but see my youth as one of privation for lack of Kant. Spending one class surveying Kant would not only reveal to ToKers the joys of philosophy and the inevitable narrowness of their perspective, it would also provide some support against the arrogant materialists. Benson Tucker, Brown University

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As I was sitting in Mexico, waiting for the VBS my youth group was running to end, I noticed the hue of the sky. It indicated a nearing sunset; thus, it was time to go. I got up only to find it was in fact not time to go but at least half an hour early. I took off my sunglasses. They were spotless, unscratched. They gave me a perfectly accurate view of the world save for tint, and that exception influenced my actions greatly. It got me to thinking what other slight misperceptions of the world could have caused me and others to do. It got me talking about perception back at my hotel room. It got the little TOK voice in my head whirring.

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21st Century Agora

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Common Sense?

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