Making sense of common-sense
With several decades of life experience under my belt, I can confidently say that common sense is considered a desirable virtue. I am sure there are Australian, Asian, American, and European parents preaching the value of having common sense to their little ones as I write this article. Thinking back, I remember my dad emphasizing the need for common sense. Recently, being a dad, I have picked up the baton. I leave no stone unturned in making my kids aware of their insufficient application of common sense. While at it, I couldn’t help but notice that I do not know exactly what common sense means.
The Oxford dictionary says that common-sense is the ability to think about things in a practical way and to make sensible decisions. Now, that is not a very helpful explanation. Several questions pop up. What does it mean by thinking in a practical way? And what is a sensible decision? I think that we need a concrete understanding of what common-sense is if we have to have a reasonable shot at having more of it. Clearly, the dictionary description is too abstract.
For me, the "sense" part of common sense is clear. What isn't clear is the "common." Does common sense mean a type of sense shared by many people, making it "common"? I don't think so. If that were the case, my dad wouldn't have needed to emphasize the importance of common sense. Similarly, I wouldn't need to highlight its benefits to my children. For example, my son thought it made sense to paint a family portrait on the wall. However, that didn't align with my idea of common sense. To take it further, my wife considered the painting nonsense. The conclusion is clear: common sense is not universally shared.
Another possibility is that common sense is common among people like a shirt is. Shirts could be full-sleeved, half-sleeved, floral, formal, or outright crazy. But regardless of the differences, they are all shirts. So it might be that my little man has common sense, as do my wife and I. But they are unique to each of us. Someone who prefers a floral shirt might not agree that his friend, who always wears formal shirts, makes any sense. It's also likely that their feelings are mutual. Coming back to common sense, I don’t think this idea is complete either. Because if it were so, then we couldn't develop common sense. Each of us has it, and it will remain different from what others have.
Thinking further through this perplexing conundrum, I found some resolution in the possibility that the "common" in common sense might refer to a sense that is common to every discipline known to mankind. A manifestation of such common sense could be that fundamentals matter the most. Fundamentals vary across disciplines, but mastering the fundamentals is a prerequisite for gaining expertise in any particular discipline.
It follows that someone with perfect common sense would know everything known to mankind and be able to distill the essence to understand what is common among them. Since that is not possible for us lesser mortals, we have to live with a limited pool of knowledge to derive common sense from. Thus, those with common sense might refrain from adopting an "I-know-it-all" mindset.
Unlike the first two, the last interpretation of common sense makes sense. First, it explains why common sense manifests differently between people. It depends on the pool of knowledge one has gained. Therefore, in practical matters, following common sense cannot guarantee objectively reproducible results. Second, as years go by, common sense is likely better refined. That explains the ubiquitous dynamic between parents who want to instill more common sense in their children. Finally, someone who has gained a lot of knowledge would have gained proportionate practical skills as well, satisfying the Oxford Dictionary’s interpretation.
Note that with the above insight, we are not better equipped to garner more common sense or to assess how much we have right now. But let's peel further layers later. Enough for now.