What is "common sense"

[Yahweh]

I find myself saying "use common sense" all the time, what exactly is Common Sense?

[Yahweh]

"Would you ever stand in the path of a speeding train to see if you could stop it, Yahweh?"

No, I wouldnt, I dont think I could.

"How do you know?"

Durk? *drool drips from side of mouth*

"You dont know unless you try."

How do I know? Common sense, duh!

"What a convenient answer..."

[Pyrian]

Ugh, more semantics. :p

Common sense is what everyone thinks everyone else ought to have figured out by now. ;)

[Some Friggin Guy]

I don't know if I am recalling this all correctly, but in a developmental psychology class I took, I read a studdy which stated that infants were placed on a glass surface with the image of a chasm underneath it. The infants were perfectly safe.

Interestingly enough, the infants would not cross the "chasm" (presumably over a fear of falling).

If placed directly on the "chasm" they would immediately panic and cry.

If I am remembering this correctly, and the evidence is true, then I would have to define common sense as some "knowledge" which appears to be inherent to life. "DOn't try to stop a moving train by hand! You need an oven-mit or the train will hurt you!" That kind of thing.

[reprise]

Originally posted by Yahweh
I find myself saying "use common sense" all the time, what exactly is Common Sense?

"Common sense" is an oxymoron.

It's a term we generally use when talking about conclusion which people should reach without special knowledge, ie just our general day to day experience of living should provide us with the information we need to make an appropriate choice or to take an appropriate action.

[LuxFerum]

Is what you should have learned in your childhood.

[baggie]

What ever it is, I never had it as a kid according to my mum, and now I still dont have it according to my wife. Guess it is a female thing.

[Suddenly]

Common sense is an appeal to the obvious used when someone doesn't want to explain something. It is not a very good thing to rely on because obviousness is in the eye of the beyholder

Consider:

"It is common sense that you should not jump out of a fast moving car in heavy traffic on a tree-lined road"

v.

"It is common sense that a religious person will behave better than an atheist."

[Iamme]

Well...common sense is often neither common, nor makes sense! That said...there is a poster who has a shorted-up version bearing that username. Go ask *him*. :D

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"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."-Albert Einstein

[ImpyTimpy]

Common sense = a set of generally accepted notions about cause and effect. That's the best I can come up with using my common sense.