gozz
 
Reply Wed 9 Oct, 2013 05:19 am
Descartes claims in Discourse 1 that “Good sense is the most evenly shared thing in
the world”.
Is he right?
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dalehileman
 
  1  
Reply Wed 9 Oct, 2013 12:28 pm
@gozz,
Gozz, religious and political fanaticism seems to contradict that assertion
Cyracuz
 
  2  
Reply Thu 10 Oct, 2013 11:51 am
@gozz,
I have also heard that honesty is the best policy. If you translate the Norwegian equivalent of that saying directly to English, you get "Honesty last the longest", to which the most common reply is "because it is the least used".

But it is hard to know what Descartes really meant based on one sentence. As I read it, my immediate thought is that it sounds counter intuitive. Many people lack the good sense to pour water out of a boot.
gozz
 
  1  
Reply Mon 14 Oct, 2013 03:40 am
@dalehileman,
you mean like politics and religion affects our judgement?
gozz
 
  1  
Reply Mon 14 Oct, 2013 03:40 am
@Cyracuz,
when you say honest are you referring to good sense?
Cyracuz
 
  1  
Reply Mon 14 Oct, 2013 04:29 am
@gozz,
By honesty I mean not creating false impressions.
There is no link between acting with honesty and acting with good sense. There are different criteria that determine if an action was honset or sensible.
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timur
 
  2  
Reply Mon 14 Oct, 2013 05:56 am
@gozz,
Taking a sentence out of its context will lead, at best, to misinterpretation.

If you approve of the definition of good sense given by Descartes, I bet you no longer doubt his claim:

Descartes wrote:
GOOD sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed; for every one thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that those even who are the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do not usually desire a larger measure of this quality than they already possess. And in this it is not likely that all are mistaken: the conviction is rather to be held as testifying that the power of judging aright and of distinguishing Truth from Error, which is properly what is called Good Sense or Reason, is by nature equal in all men; and that the diversity of our opinions, consequently, does not arise from some being endowed with a larger share of Reason than others, but solely from this, that we conduct our thoughts along different ways, and do not fix our attention on the same objects. For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite is rightly to apply it. The greatest minds, as they are capable of the highest excellencies, are open likewise to the greatest aberrations; and those who travel very slowly may yet make far greater progress, provided they keep always to the straight road, than those who, while they run, forsake it.
0 Replies
 
dalehileman
 
  1  
Reply Tue 15 Oct, 2013 11:47 am
@gozz,
Quote:
you mean like politics and religion affects our judgement?
Yea, Gozz
0 Replies
 
 

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