What exactly is "common sense" and where does it come from?

Question

I've heard a lot of people say that someone has "book smarts", but lacks "common sense". What exactly is "common sense"? Where does it come from? Can it be learned?

Answer 1

Common sense is walking up to the edge of a 100 foot cliff and not jumping off. It's seeing a grizzly bear sleeping in the forest and knowing not to sneak up to it and poke it in the eye with a sharp stick.

Do a search on "Darwin awards". The people in these true stories all lacked "common sense".

Answer 2

There is book smart and there is street smart. Some people have both.

Common sense can be learned to a certain degree. I guess, I would say that common sense is learning how to read and trust your instincts. This is something that many of us have fogotten how to do in our modern world.

Tribal people use their instincts for survival. They do teach it to their children but a certain amount of it is INNER knowing.

Answer 3

Common sense comes from learning....we are taught 'common sense' every day of our lives...it is up to us whether we use 'common sense' or not and even the smartest thinkers don't always use it, as well, the smartes 'non-thinkers!' may very well use it more than you would have thought.

Answer 4

"From the latin term "sensus communis" itself trans.of Greek:koine aisthesis sound,practical judgement that is independent of specialised knowledge,training or the like;normal native intelligence...".The common people had access to this at a time when they did not have access to education..Thus the term common sense.the sense of uneducated commoners,.an innate intelligence that some are quite simply born with more of than others, easily seen in dogs as well as humans affecting the lifespan of both. The reason for seeking shelter from the rain...that can elude those referred to as educated fools,and thus the reason for that term. There are those for whom education simply can not help with the practical day to day decision making processes and they will forever be dependent upon the wisdom of others or proceed from one blunder to another, not learning from their mistakes simply because THEY LACK COMMON SENSE!!!! Also an outstanding pamphlet by Thomas Paine written in 1776 as to why we should become independent from England written in plain language that any one could understand. I agree with the 43rd apostle that it is practical intelligence not usually taught in school. If only we could take heaping tablespoons of it when we have evidence that we are lacking in it....I know that I could use quite a few...Here's to you Tangerine ,that you have a sweet supply.Cheers! PS It's use is not abundant in the "average" persons day to day life at this time I believe because common sense says,"don't buy what you can't afford" consider the debt of the average person...excluding home buying debt just to be generous...consider the national preference to buy cars produced by the nation we dropped a horrible bomb on and the resulting devastation of our car industry....( I'm not getting into electronics or other...)thousands of jobs....outsourced for personal profit to the detriment of ....but that was the obvious,easy solution/answer to the problems of that one industry....but to destroy the economy of the people that buy your product lacks common sense. I would venture that the exercise of common sense is possibly uncommon today.Many that have learned not to stick their fingers in fire are not so sharp at eliminating their own personal debt....where the rubber hits the road in today's common sense is in our personal and corporate finances.... or not. One can not help noting the destruction of the very earth's environment .... our children's children will not have proper air or water or food with real nutrient value ...what's up with that and common sense? But I am so definitely ranting here. sorry:)

Answer 5

its like this ...
if you touch a hot stove once, will you do it again?
You need to know what comes next. Adults see farther down the road than kids do usually, because we know where things lead.
We have seen it before.
If you don't actively teach your kids to think that way will they be able to do it as adults? Or just learn the hard way.
Like those kids in Atlanta a while back robbing a marine. He warned them and tried to walk away and they threatened him with weapons. Well big surprise He killed a couple of them and they had a funeral instead of a high school graduation.
Think about what comes next.

Answer 6

Commen sense is merely referring to knowledge that your average person should possess. those actions or thoughts you would make every day without even thinking about them, through mere instinct and/or experience.

Book smarts versus Common Sense, would be close to the comparison of Intelligence versus Wisdom.

Answer 7

It is the easiest way to do something,the simplist solution or the obvious answer to a problem. Some people might invoke the rule known as Ocaam's razor which states that the most reasonable or obvious is the answer. T4

Answer 8

Common sense can be taught and learned, and indeed that is the only way it is acquired. It is the ability to discern what is right or wrong, and what is socially acceptable

Answer 9

common sense is the ability to reason.... to stop and think about the possibilities of an action.... there's a stove... is it hot?...should I touch it to find out?... no,that will hurt if it is.... better to just stand nearer to it and see if it's giving off heat or not.... that's using common sense.....

another example.... mom says 'don't run with the scissors'... I'm in a hurry... start to run with them in my hand.... stop/think.... if I do run, and I do fall, mom says told you so after she brains me and I prove the old adage.... if I run and don't fall, no one will know.... if I run and fall and get hurt and no one knows, I'm HURT.... rather just walk over there and skip all the drama... again, use of common sense.....

most folks 'are born with it' or 'absorb' it by watching and imitating others.... some folks just never 'get it'... they have to stick their fingers in the fire...

Answer 10

commonly, atheists do no longer worship something, enable a lone a consumer-friendly ancestor. additionally you need to achieve that evolution isn't an atheist concept. you are the outsider in this one. almost all of non secular human beings, Christians blanketed, help the technology of evolution. purely a very, very small minority of people, in general in the US, disagree with evolution. And guess what, in case you circulate to a doctor, you help evolution. All present day drugs is consistent with our wisdom of evolution. So congratulations, you're an evolutionist.