A well delivered and lucidly put together piece Ant. Your use of Johnson ( Boris, not Samuel) is very drole.
I think the definition you give of commoin sense is very persuasive, and then you go onto convince us that actually common sense is neither paricularly common nor necessarily sense. But there is something there – the concept has some basis, and you show how research has linked it to our capacity for social understanding. So it’s all a matter of balance and degree really – just use your common sense!
Interesting, and a good image of Boris. What is considered sensible is a matter of opinion, as you say. The problem arises more with ‘common’ than ‘sense’. I think that we can and should apply our own standards, and judge that certain things are right or wrong, whether or not the majority would agree. I recall a cousin in Canada saying that she did not do drugs, although the majority of her classmates did. She showed sense, in my view, although not common sense, if you look at the majority. If the expression were ‘[something else] sense’, rather than ‘common sense’, your podcast would have been different. How about ‘good sense’? Whatever adjective you use, what is good, common or something else is subjective.
A well delivered and lucidly put together piece Ant. Your use of Johnson ( Boris, not Samuel) is very drole.
I think the definition you give of commoin sense is very persuasive, and then you go onto convince us that actually common sense is neither paricularly common nor necessarily sense. But there is something there – the concept has some basis, and you show how research has linked it to our capacity for social understanding. So it’s all a matter of balance and degree really – just use your common sense!
Interesting, and a good image of Boris. What is considered sensible is a matter of opinion, as you say. The problem arises more with ‘common’ than ‘sense’. I think that we can and should apply our own standards, and judge that certain things are right or wrong, whether or not the majority would agree. I recall a cousin in Canada saying that she did not do drugs, although the majority of her classmates did. She showed sense, in my view, although not common sense, if you look at the majority. If the expression were ‘[something else] sense’, rather than ‘common sense’, your podcast would have been different. How about ‘good sense’? Whatever adjective you use, what is good, common or something else is subjective.