Does everybody have common sense?

I have a number of intelligent and/or well-educated friends who have no common sense at all.

I don't think common sense can be taught.

Yup, you can be both or either, but common sense ain't so common, ya know...

Hi Gracie!

No sense isn't too common. All you have to do is look at this new poster.

http://able2know.org/topic/177039-1

I'm not new, mr reyn.

don't you remember me...?

Oh, I remember you just fine. It's the other guy.

Unfortunately, not everybody has common sense and it has nothing to do
with one's IQ either. I have a friend who went to school most of his life and
he has absolutely no common sense.

Unfortunately, common sense is not as common as it should be. Those that most would agree possess common sense aren't the best and brightest. This is because attributes like emotional sense and wisdom come into play.

There are many people who are high IQ and/or highly educated but they've little or no common sense. For one reason or another, they make some long-term mistakes in life (or in their day-to-day routine) that can be pretty painful or harmful to themselves or others. Wisdom and emotional balance have to come into play or all that education can make for a dysfunctional mess.

Whereas someone without a great amount of education, training or wealth can get along just fine by setting goals, paying attention to danger signs and just generally following a wiser path. They tend to have a little more emotional balance and often times make the right moves where they stay away from trouble and troublemakers.

So do I, I call them my gay republican friends.

Okay. But I think some people have to have at least a little common sense. What exactly is common sense? How would you define/describe it? (Hard question?)

Ugh! What a moron! He's super annoying. Maybe you guys are right about some people having no common sense. He just proved the point. Jerk.

Hey, how come no one's reported him yet? I guess I'll do the honors!

Extremely hard question, Gracie. I've been browsing this thread, hoping against hope, that somebody might offer a definition.

Ragman: Yea, you're right.

jcboy: Haha!!

Haha! Well I guess now that makes two of us!

Can anyone enlighten Lustig Andrei and I by answering my 'extremely hard' question?

"Knowledge and experience which most people already have, or which the person using the term believes that they do or should have.

According to Cambridge Dictionary, the phrase is good sense and sound judgment in practical matters ("the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way").

Oh! So everyone has to have a little common sense right? If not they wouldnt be able to survive.

I don't want common sense.

Common sense are the things you do or believe without thinking. It is the opposite of reason and is quite often wrong. Common sense often leads to fear and prejudice. It was common sense that led people to burn witches and common sense was the reason women weren't allowed to vote. More recently it was common sense to borrow whatever you could to buy as big a house as possible that common sense told you would certainly go up in value. It is common sense to be afraid of people in turbans.

I am ashamed to admit that I have some common sense at times. I do everything I can to get rid of it.

I want to use logic. I want understanding. I want knowledge. I want the ability to question and to think critically.

Why would anyone want common sense?

That is how I understand it as well.

To me, common sense is the ability to effectively assess practical (rather than theoretical) situations using existing knowledge and experience and to make good decisions as a result.

I know that common sense isn't always about people or relationships, but it is where I most often hear comments about common sense made.

~~~

In a simple example - a biology student sees a large group of bees buzzing around a hive, gets closer to take a look, pokes the hive to see what would happen and is badly stung as a result.

If the biology student considered the knowledge they had, the common sense approach would be to not move toward the hive until they knew more - is there a bee keeper around, are the bees in a calm state etc.

~~~

People without common sense don't seem to know how to put theory into practice. They might know, in theory, that something is a bad idea, but they can't seem to avoid doing that bad thing. I'm not sure whether it's more often curiosity or lack of curiosity that causes the problem.

I disagree with your definition ehBeth. A person who pokes at a beehive has a problem with critical thinking. This is a problem with intelligence, not with "common sense".

Logic and critical thinking can get you by just fine in these cases.

Let's look at real examples of how this term is actually used.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/16/AR2010081604254.html