Is common sense overrated?

Question

Do you frequently apply common sense, then find out it's wrong. My philosophy as been don't use common sense unless you have to. Well I violated my rule. Guess what happened. Yeah that's right. The common sense was wrong.
I was going through questions on YA. Someone asked if walking a mile burns the same amount of calories as running a mile. I said no. Because it takes more calories to get there faster. Then in the sources section I typed in "common sense". I submitted it. Then I started to worry. I went and looked it up. I was wrong. Walking a mile actually burns more calories than running a mile. I had to go back and apologize and give the right answer. Serves me right!
Do you have similiar luck when applying common sense ?

Answer 1

Common sense is not overrated, it's overused. Your mistake was using common sense in a situation where there is an empirically confirmed correct answer. When there is a correct answer, common sense is useless, and prone to mistakes.

Common sense is useful in situations where there is no known correct answer, or where there is no consensus as to which answer is correct. In this case, common sense fills in the gaps with reason. Basically, common sense allows us to create a "best" answer with the information we're given. Best, however, is not always correct. Thus, when a correct answer does exist, we should turn to it prior to making any judgement, as our common sense is useless in the face of factual confirmation.

Common sense is also useful for choosing between potential answers. When there are a group of potential answers, we are well served to apply common sense to choose the one we think is most useful. However, if the correct answer is ever confirmed from the group of potential answers, common sense immediately becomes useless.

Answer 2

The problem with real common sense is that it has gone the way of the dodo bird.

Nobody, but nobody, uses it anymore. Using common sense means you will stand out and be branded a rebel. Everyone is afraid to take responsibility, so if common sense means you have to do something against the grain or against some silly rule or law, they will throw the book at you for using common sense.

If you want to see a lack of common sense, go to work in a union environment, there common sense has been replaced with "not my job". I could go on forever on this subject but ..........

Answer 3

No - but I see common sense as something different than you do. To me - common sense is to come in out of the rain - or to make a choice based on past experience. I mean - how many times do you see people make the same mistakes in their life - not learning. That is a person that lacks any common sense to me.

You made a decision based on the distance and forgot to calculate in that the runner would be done in a shorter amount of time,therefore not really exercising for as long. Both are aerobic workouts :)

Answer 4

You have to consider that what you consider common sense may not be what the general population considers common sense. Oftentimes we expect something to work a certain way, and say our reason is it is common sense, but that may or may not conform to what is true in reality.

Common sense is however good in judging what a large amount of people would do in a given situation. For instance, is it right to spend 2.4 million dollars on a Super bowl commercial that isn't funny, isn't informative, is only thirty seconds long and basically sucks? Does this decision ring of common sense?

Surprisingly, yes, it does.

Answer 5

In my opinion, common sense is overrated. It can stem from an intuition, or rather a priori knowledge, which is not conclusive. If everyone's intuitions are different, how can these be common? There are times when one must experience something to understand how to proceed. Don't get me wrong, common sense is important in life. It is just not as important as some make it out to be.

Answer 6

Common sense is often also just that -- common. Iv'e got a Swedish friend that gets ticked off when I tell him that specific things in Sweden are examples of socialism. He equates socialism with communism. People tend to have this common understanding since USSR was socialist. So it makes sense to him that a democracy like Sweden is not socialistic.

My point is that common sense is often something that is culturally drilled into us rather than based on any sound reasoning. Even in your example, why would faster equate to more? (I probably would have answered as you did).

I'm surprised some comedian hasn't hit on this..... like G.C's "Jumbo Shrimp".

Answer 7

Common sense is a combination of knowledge and intelligence, thus the greater of ones' knowledge and intelligence the greater their common sense. Though one should not confuse knowledge with intelligence. 'Knowledge' is the 'storage' of information where intelligence is the 'ability' to 'apply' relevant knowledge to a situation and arrive at a correct solution. One can contain much knowledge and lower intelligence thus they are mostly a storage tank of facts and trivia. One with intelligence and little knowledge will have difficulty with solutions as well due their deficit. Common sense has also been closely related to IQ (intelligence quotient).
I may have answered 'running' as well, but this is due to a lack of knowledge as you've found out. Although I believe there are many variables involved in the 'walking', 'running' comparison mostly involving the amount of 'force' used. Such as 'casual' or 'power' walking compared to 'jogging' or 'sprinting'.
I believe we mostly interpret common sense as involving the 'basic rules', though your common sense may have told you that it is not applicable in finding the solution to the walking compared to running question regarding calories.
In conclusion, you increased your common sense through this experience.

Answer 8

Always! As a fairly logical person i use common sense and yet it always seems to turn around and bite me on the a**e! When i give the answer that could never make sense, it's generally right. Yet when i give a straight-forward and sensical reply nine times out of ten, it will be wrong!

Answer 9

Actually i think Common sense is under used and under appreciated.

But works best when you actually have experience behind it.

If i was allowed to work just using my common sense and the years of experience I have, my job would be so much easier (I know, I do it when the bosses aren't watching).

Common sense is a wonderful tool, but like any tool it has its limits and it's proper uses

Answer 10

LOL...sometimes...when I accept common sense for knowledge. Yep, its true...common sense is not knowledge....even though if you look it up, it says something about specialized knowledge, I prefer to think of common sense as natural understanding. I know, its a contradiction in terms...you must have knowledge to have understanding....what a cyclical thing it is! Back to your question...yes, all the time. Maybe it would be better to say you apply concepts? Or assumptions?