Common sense is basic instinctive knowledge people are expected to have to help them navigate their daily lives. The term common sense is a tricky concept, because it seems like it should be obvious, but it could be surprisingly difficult. It is called common sense because it's assumed to be common knowledge within a community or culture but it's not entirely common.
There are a few things common sense can help us do;
- Communicate effectively
- Solve everyday's problems
- Avoid obvious mistakes.
There are unspoken rules common sense is expected to teach us, such as saying thank you for a good deed done for us, knowing how to arrange plates in a rack, response to social situations, knowing where to pack a car, etc. It is common sense that shows a mother her baby is hungry when she cries. We often don't need to be told, we just know, because it's assumed to be the right approach to a situation at that moment.
But then there are a few reasons why common sense isn't common even as common as it is assumed to be. One of the reasons is Our experience varies. What might seem like common sense to you may be unfamiliar to someone because of our different background and childhood programming. Secondly, Individual differences. Our aptitude for reasoning differs, while it's easy for someone to grab the obvious reasoning, another struggles with it. And finally Context. Context matters a lot because what's applicable in one context may be different in another. What's considered to be sensible in one context may be inappropriate in another. So the context to which the common sense is applied can differ also. All this makes common sense not common at all.
In summary, common sense is that unspoken, shared knowledge that helps us navigate through life without having to overthink every little thing, however, it's not entirely common.
I liked how you described common sense as automatic knowledge. And I think that in some way that's what it is, it's having done something so many times that it becomes routine and we no longer need to think about how to do it, we just do it.
And yeah totally agree, it can change depending on the context. Like, for a group of mechanics something should be common sense, the same goes for doctors, or lawyers but for the rest of us it is not that common to know those things.
That's true, the context of common sense can be applied in different field
Your point about context is good, I haven't think it before, maybe I don't have enough common sense as I bet! 😆
!INDEED
!PIZZA
Hahahaha.
Everyone does and that's why it's common