Random Thoughts Thread

[Andres]

Common sense is a rather vague notion and in a lot of instances, people use it as denominator of what they think is the mainstream opinion of society or simply what they think is correct.

If you say that the clock shows that time, then it is not "common sense" to say that it's now x hours late. It's just that late. Besides, there are arguments contra. The clock could be inexact, in another part of the world, the time is not the same etc. Now, one could argue that it is "common sense" not to start a discussion about how late it is, since we all see the clock, but in a way, it's not common sense, but your opinion. You just say it's common sense to accept that what the clock says is the right time, because you're not interested in a discussion about time zones or about flaws in clock mechanisms that make them inexact. By using the notion "common sense", you avoid the dicussion and attempt to finish it. You stiffle the debate and make it impossible to have a discussion about better clock mechanisms or about time zones.

In the clock example, it can be defended that it would be silly to constantly doubt the time the clock is showing, but where do you draw the line? When is a discussion worth having and not worth having?

The most common answer to that last question, would probably be: use common sense.

If you go far enough however, you'll find out that everyone has a different opinion on what common sense is. If nobody fully agrees on what common sense is in all circumstances, than perhaps it's not so common.

Common sense doesn't exist and thus cannot be used as an argument.