Or rather, what is common? Today's discussion, while touching both on intuition and instruction, lacked a clearly stated definition of what we mean by "common". For common sense to be absolutely common, it must be something that transcends all societal boundaries. In transcending these boundaries, it is therefore not generated by society but rather generated from within or through experiences basic and frequent enough that all people would have them [falling hurts]. Common sense must be instinctive, or else it could not be common to all people.
But if that's common sense, what do we call these seemingly basic ideas like "eating out of the trash is bad"? These ideas must not be described as common sense, or at least without the modifier of "societal" common sense. Just as it seems common sense that "driving is best on the right side of the road" here, a trip through Europe would show just how far from common that idea is. Consider a society in which leftovers are not kept and perfectly good food is disposed of right after a meal, [ironically similar to our own wasteful system...] would the same perception of eating out of the trash exist?
Common sense therefore exists in two categories: instinctive common sense, and societal common sense. Instinctive common sense is learned through response to rules absolute to all people, such as momentum and metabolism. Societal common sense is learned through response to rules common to a given society, driving on the right and putting inedible food in the trash. Perhaps an awareness of this distinction will allow us to communicate our ideas on the validity of common sense more clearly.
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5 comments:
Common sense is something learned from sight and experience. When you're a child you learn to walk by seeing the adults around you, even if you're set on fire you know it's a bad thing by experience. Not eating out of the trash is something that your parents teach you. Everything considered common sense is taught to you, and it's based on the view that society has.
I agree with the post. Rather than arguing about whether "common sense" is instinctive or societal, we need to recognize that they're just two different things. Unless we develop one, clear-cut definition of what "common" means, the distinction needs to be made whenever anyone refers to it.
Society doesn't effect whether or not fire burns you, and you don't need someone to teach you that it burns you. That's why it falls under instinctive rather than societal.
well in the word, sense...i think of our 5 senses, all instinctive, society sure as heck doesnt tell me to feel, or to see, or hear, i do it on my own, and i believe the 5 senses form the base of what is 'common sense,' however, with the hard to define word, common, having a CLEAR defintion is difficult
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