Common sense
 

If it's common, why is it so scarce?

It isn't scarce, its just not media friendly.

Maybe because everyone wants to be so 'individual' that there's now no commonality. :)

There was this thing similar to the 1970s Arab Oil Crisis, but thus far, technology simliar to that which allows one to extract deep oil from fields that were thought to be depleted hasn't been developed yet. The research is underfunded.

Like Mark Twain said, "Common sense ain't."

In a democracy, the catchphrase is always mightier than the syllogism.

:weeps:
:mourns:

maybe it's not common in the ubiquitous sense. Maybe it's available to common folk without a pricey education. That's why an education person doesn't necessarily have common sense.

What annoys/ frightens me are highly educated people that have no common sense.

Many highly educated people only reference what they have been taught. Every other situation comes up, "Does Not Compute". :headshake

We're a naturally reactive bunch, so we tend to act first and think later how we might have done it better if we'd thought about it first. Taking time to think things through first will generally save more time than rushing headlong into something because the quick approach usually generates the need for involved corrective actions.

Surely that's common sense? The guy who taught me analysis prefers, however, to call it 'uncommon sense'. As we seldom seem to learn from our mistakes in these circumstances, I think he's right.

Common sense without a grasp of underlying concepts and without experience makes one his own worst enemy.

That last section of a brain so necessary to meet these requirements does not form until about the age of 16. Only after 16 is a human starting to grasp the bigger picture AND compile the necessary experiences.

Common sense is very common, but you don't notice it because those people just do their job and leave. Only the idiots stand out.

Common Sense and Common Courtesy were brother and sister. In this rough-and-tumble world, they huddled together for comfort. One thing led to another, and nine months later they had an inbred baby - named Political Correctness, which slaughtered it's own parents in short order.

Perhaps common sense has fallen prey to the bad press of public opinion. Somewhere along the line, common became synonymous with plebian. Somehow, common sense is relegated to a status of "beneath the notice of the educated". If it's common, then I'm not special if I possess it, and my purposeful ignorance of it is no detriment to me if I'm "educated".
Maybe we can play the game of semantics and get common sense rebranded as "practical intelligence". There's no negative connotation to intelligence or practicality, after all, (at least none I'm aware of) so perhaps those in the lofty seats of academia may be more likely to appreciate its application.

Nice

I like that. Practical Intelligence avoids the negative associations with the terms like logic , rational, and reason. When you debate on the basis of logic it can be construed as arbitrary, or without passion.

I guess the term common sense is wishful thinking.

Isn't common sense rooted in concentual truths? Knowledge that has become accepted as true, through acumulated experience of the community/tribe/race?

Example ~ For the people that live around lake deeper'nshit, it's common knowlege that you need 8 days below freezing for the ice to be safe for hockey. Therefore common sense would be to stay off the ice if it hasn't been below freezing for at least 8 days.

Example ~ Never pet a burning dog. Accumulated knowlege tells you if you touch fire you will be burned. If you ever had, you'd know first hand(pun), but most people believe their mother plus having some experience with hot things are wary enough not to try fire.

Of course much common knowlege has been debunked by advances in science and medicine, especially in the last century.

So, I think practical intellegence is a wonderful term in that it implies you're applying knowlege and possibly even weighing risks in a practical manner rather than being stumped, grasping for absolutes.

Excellent, Ridgeplate. :thumb2: