Common Sense

Alright, before you read any further get a pencil and paper and write down your definition of common sense.

Finished? Then read on!

I thought this would be a good way for us to compare notes about something that frankly I found embarrassingly difficult. That is until I began a search for the meaning of common sense and discovered I may not be the only one having trouble putting into words what common sense is.

This whole thing was spawned by my recent assignment to jury duty when I sat listening to the defense attorney asking prospective jurors to explain common sense. I had already answered some questions and was praying that he wouldn’t get back to asking me that question because, just like the other jurors, I was having trouble coming up with anything meaningful and I didn’t want to be embarrassed as they seemed to be.

One definition of the term as given in Wikipedia is;

Common sense on a strict construction of the term, is what people in common would agree; that which they "sense" in common as their common natural understanding. Some use the phrase to refer to beliefs or propositions that in their opinion they consider would in most people's experience be prudent and of sound judgement, without dependence upon esoteric knowledge or study or research, but based upon what is believed to be knowledge held by people "in common". The knowledge and experience most people have, or are believed to have by the person using the term.

Einstein once defined common sense as the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen, which I think affirms the thinking that common sense is a detriment to logical thinking.

Since we are not born with common sense it must be something that we acquire through life experiences. To say that common sense is learned is only partially correct, although we need learned skills to have common sense we must also apply intuition to the learned in order to deduce what others commonly believe or understand.

So the next time you say to someone it is only common sense, you may have a whole new understanding of what you mean.

I wonder what the attorney would have done if I had laid this on him?