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The death of common sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
Why the early bird gets the worm;
Life isn't always fair; and Maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6 -year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or a band-aid to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and planned to have a medical procedure.

Common Sense lost the will to live as churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 3 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

Its sad that its true, every day that passes is another day i want to stay away from the US. Its a damn shame i have to pass through it to go back home and back to Canada, heck i pay 300 extra dollars just to not get harrased by dumb inmigration officers. It is a sad day indeed when people have become so comfortable and accustomed to numbness that common sense is not more than a fashionable phrase.

I'm always skeptical of people who use "common sense" to justify their positions. "Common sense" is just another term for "intuition" which is just another term for "gut instinct". This is rarely a good way of reaching an accurate conclusion: the inclinations of the gut are wrong as often as they're right. If you can't come up with a better argument for something than "well it would be pretty 'common' for people to 'feel' this way under these circumstances, I guess" then you're struggling.

So if it's true that common sense is dead, then I say good riddance. Bring on logic and empiricism.

quote:

Originally posted by Renegade So if it's true that common sense is dead, then I say good riddance. Bring on logic and empiricism.

I agree, . Common sense was never that common anyway. We'd be better off if all people were taught how to THINK RATIONALLY in the first place.

quote:

Originally posted by Renegade I'm always skeptical of people who use "common sense" to justify their positions. "Common sense" is just another term for "intuition" which is just another term for "gut instinct". This is rarely a good way of reaching an accurate conclusion: the inclinations of the gut are wrong as often as they're right. If you can't come up with a better argument for something than "well it would be pretty 'common' for people to 'feel' this way under these circumstances, I guess" then you're struggling. So if it's true that common sense is dead, then I say good riddance. Bring on logic and empiricism.

Actually thats not necessarily correct, "gut instinct" and "intuition" have their uses and are well documented mental processes. Did you know people how have damage to their frontal lobe and dont experience "intuition" have trouble comitting to a decision and while go hours on end trying to decide if they want to go home in the bus, or walking. It's a condition called hyperrationality. The lack of "intuition" in the human species is actually maladaptive. A world based solely on empiricism and logic would not work well with our social nature. Now im not saying that every decision is to be made by those gut feelings, ovbiously some decisions have so many implications and ramifications that they have to be conciously weighted, but to say that we are better off without common sense is too much of a stretch.

EDIT: Also for some processes our intuitions are more than not right, such as for assesment of social behavior and whatnot. I think your argument only applies for more sophisticated behaviour like research or policy design.

quote:

Originally posted by Renegade I'm always skeptical of people who use "common sense" to justify their positions. "Common sense" is just another term for "intuition" which is just another term for "gut instinct". This is rarely a good way of reaching an accurate conclusion: the inclinations of the gut are wrong as often as they're right. If you can't come up with a better argument for something than "well it would be pretty 'common' for people to 'feel' this way under these circumstances, I guess" then you're struggling. So if it's true that common sense is dead, then I say good riddance. Bring on logic and empiricism.

Someone needs to read, "Blink"

Common sense!! HA!! Away with common sense!!

Common sense is a very dangerous assumption that is made without the dependence upon esoteric knowledge, study or research.

Many times throughout history, common sense has been proven wrong. Common sense told Aristotle that the sun revolved around the earth. Common sense told Galileo that heavier objects fell faster than lighter ones, if wind resistance were taken out of the factors; luckily, he didn't listen. We shouldn't listen either. I never listen to anything anyone tells me anymore without further inquiry.

So, when a friend tells you something, and says somebody else told him so, give him a very skeptical look, because it turns out, some of the things my friends have told me, and even argued with me about, and said they knew 100% for sure was right, turned out to be wrong. Like when I was told the brightest star in the sky is the North Star. It's really Sirius. Assumptions are bad..

quote:

Originally posted by ::TranceVanDyk:: Common sense!! HA!! Away with common sense!! Common sense is a very dangerous assumption that is made without the dependence upon esoteric knowledge, study or research. Many times throughout history, common sense has been proven wrong. Common sense told Aristotle that the sun revolved around the earth. Common sense told Galileo that heavier objects fell faster than lighter ones, if wind resistance were taken out of the factors; luckily, he didn't listen. We shouldn't listen either. I never listen to anything anyone tells me anymore without further inquiry. So, when a friend tells you something, and says somebody else told him so, give him a very skeptical look, because it turns out, some of the things my friends have told me, and even argued with me about, and said they knew 100% for sure was right, turned out to be wrong. Like when I was told the brightest star in the sky is the North Star. It's really Sirius. Assumptions are bad..

Haha, you beat me to it!!! Thats what I was thinking.

But I guess the point is that people dont understand right from wrong anymore, no logic or proper reasoning .... that sort of thing - if you read that first post you'd know what I mean. Only idiots, ignorant and selfish people sure for burning yourself with a cup of coffee, for example. I'd never sue, its just plain dumb, selfish and lacks logic (unless your mind is dilluted with making money off other people)

Re: The death of common sense

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherWay83 Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and Maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6 -year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or a band-aid to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and planned to have a medical procedure. Common Sense lost the will to live as churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Now that i read this in the entirety, it's not even addressing common sense. it seems more to be addressing rationality. Rationality is dying.

Re: Re: The death of common sense

quote:

Originally posted by ::TranceVanDyk:: Now that i read this in the entirety, it's not even addressing common sense. it seems more to be addressing rationality. Rationality is dying.

eggzacklee...that's what i think too.

quote:

Originally posted by Fir3start3r Someone needs to read, "Blink"

Agreed.

quote:

Originally posted by Akridrot I agree, . Common sense was never that common anyway.

Thats basically the short of it.
People have been doing dumb things ever since history was recorded, before that you can guarentee there was probably a couple of teenage cavemen that where daring each other to go pull the sabertooth kitty's tail at some point.

quote:

Originally posted by venomX Did you know people how have damage to their frontal lobe and dont experience "intuition" have trouble comitting to a decision and while go hours on end trying to decide if they want to go home in the bus, or walking. It's a condition called hyperrationality.

I tried to google that condition, but with no luck. I'm sure that, hypothetically at least, a man without desire, emotion or any irrational inclination whatsoever will have no reason to get out of bed in the morning, but that's not what I was arguing against. Camus said that "the body's judgement is as good as the mind's" and I agree entirely: to ignore the inclinations of the body is to ignore an integral part of human existence. The body, however, is not a valid instrument by which to gauge the "truth" claim of any given circumstance: what I mean by this is that people rarely use the phrase "common sense" as an emotional imperitive, they use it as an epistemological one. All of the examples in the OP are examples that the author of the article obviously considers to be axiomatically true: that is, true without logical justification. There is, for instance, no visceral reason to suppose that "don't spend more than you can earn" is a good policy by which to live: this can only be justified by the mind, not the body.

So yes, to live without intuition is to hardly live at all, but that is not to say that intuition can not (or should not) be usurped by rationality. The mind is a always a far better judge of truth than the body.

quote:

EDIT: Also for some processes our intuitions are more than not right, such as for assesment of social behavior and whatnot. I think your argument only applies for more sophisticated behaviour like research or policy design.

I don't think so. The mind is conditioned to view the world in a social context: I don't think that this can be argued against. That is not to say, however, that social heiracrhies (or "adults, not children, are in charge" to quote from the OP) have any ontological validity, or that we are under any obligation to follow them. Social norms undoubtedly exist - and they are undoubtedly a product of "intuition" - but that is not to say that they should be rightly upheld. All great social movements of the past have arisen through rejection of "social behaviour", not submission to it. If we are going to progress as a species, then we have to recognise that intuition is a poor guide in cases not pertaining exclusively to the individual. We should live the life we choose - and intuition is integral to this - but intution in a social (much less an epistemological) context is a very poor torch-bearer indeed.

Do away with intuition and jobs that require split second thinking and reactions, stock trading and athletics for example, would be next to impossible.

quote:

Originally posted by Renegade I tried to google that condition, but with no luck. I'm sure that, hypothetically at least, a man without desire, emotion or any irrational inclination whatsoever will have no reason to get out of bed in the morning, but that's not what I was arguing against. Camus said that "the body's judgement is as good as the mind's" and I agree entirely: to ignore the inclinations of the body is to ignore an integral part of human existence. The body, however, is not a valid instrument by which to gauge the "truth" claim of any given circumstance: what I mean by this is that people rarely use the phrase "common sense" as an emotional imperitive, they use it as an epistemological one. All of the examples in the OP are examples that the author of the article obviously considers to be axiomatically true: that is, true without logical justification. There is, for instance, no visceral reason to suppose that "don't spend more than you can earn" is a good policy by which to live: this can only be justified by the mind, not the body. So yes, to live without intuition is to hardly live at all, but that is not to say that intuition can not (or should not) be usurped by rationality. The mind is a always a far better judge of truth than the body.

I agree, i didnt mean to imply that the the body was an accurate measure for "truth" claims in general, only that it is useful for some cases for a particular individual.

quote:

I don't think so. The mind is conditioned to view the world in a social context: I don't think that this can be argued against. That is not to say, however, that social heiracrhies (or "adults, not children, are in charge" to quote from the OP) have any ontological validity, or that we are under any obligation to follow them. Social norms undoubtedly exist - and they are undoubtedly a product of "intuition" - but that is not to say that they should be rightly upheld. All great social movements of the past have arisen through rejection of "social behaviour", not submission to it. If we are going to progress as a species, then we have to recognise that intuition is a poor guide in cases not pertaining exclusively to the individual. We should live the life we choose - and intuition is integral to this - but intution in a social (much less an epistemological) context is a very poor torch-bearer indeed.

I meant assesing social behaviour of other people in order for us to reply to said behaviour in particular situations, not to asses the truth or usefulness of social behaviours in general, pardon my lack of specificity . I agree that for larger trends in behaviour, and for assesing norms the use of rational thought processes are more useful and it is often the case. The mind is design to do first a quick assesment which is what we call intuition and is usually unconscious, and afterwards the logical and more deliberate processes kick in. I agree with all you said, i just wanted to highlight that those uncounscious processes have their uses and misuses, and that it depends on what is the target of our judgements because people here readily dismiss anything thats not "logical" as being unuseful.

About the research on hyperrationality, i didnt right down references when we discussed it in one of my classes because it was only an example, it might go under a different name. If you really want to read on it i cand find out for you, i did a quick search and couldnt find it either but i can ask my prof.

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