What is common sense?

[LezGeri]

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." Albert Einstein

"Most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes." Oscar Wilde

"He's a man of great common sense and good taste, meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage" George Bernard Shaw

"Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has" Rene Descartes

"Common Sense is that which judges the things given to it by other senses." Leonardo da Vinci

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." Buddha

"The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next." Matthew Arnold

Common sense is sometimes appealed to in political debates, particularly when other arguments have been exhausted. Civil rights for African Americans, women's suffrage, and homosexuality—to name just a few—have all been attacked as being contrary to common sense. Similarly, common sense has been invoked in opposition to many scientific and technological advancements. Such misuse of the notion of common sense is fallacious, being a form of the argumentum ad populum (appeal to the masses) fallacy.

Common sense is what told us the Earth is flat and the Sun goes round it.

So what today may seem just common sense, may make no sense tomorrow.

[ScreaM]

Common sense is what saves me from trouble.

[Tremor]

What are you trying to prove to yourself Lezgeri?

[Dupont]

a lot of people don't have it unfortunately

[joneze]

Originally Posted by Dupont

a lot of people don't have it unfortunately

Sad but true Dupont

[lyno]

The german term for common sense is 'gesunder menschenverstand'
(healthy human intellect). If somebody appeals on common sense usually
sombody else points out that a quick look at the daily news proof that
the the human intellect is everything but not healthy

[Head Boy]

Common sense is what makes people think that great minds think alike.

[jaobedoza]

Originally Posted by Dupont

a lot of people don't have it unfortunately

common sense isnt common to all

[hardcoreblogger]

Originally Posted by LezGeri

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." Albert Einstein

i like good ole albert's definition best

[Wiggles]

haha i like einsteins

[fresh]

common sense must be very common

[LittleSassy]

common sense is the thing that you know other people know!

[pornvue]

Originally Posted by jaobedoza

common sense isnt common to all

i agree...sadly some people doesnt use their common sense

[Mihx]

It's interesting to see how several of you actually appear to take the opposite stance of most of the quotes in the first post.

The quotes suggest common sense makes you narrow-minded, rigid and prejudiced - several of you say that it's unfortunate that not enough people possess common sense.
Apparantly you don't quite agree with the definition of "common sense" some of the great minds employ in those quotes?

I imagine that they might not argue that possessing and using "common sense" to some degree is quite useful, but there's also the chance that it will close your mind to other viewpoints and learning and accepting new knowledge.

[Tremor]

One person's collection of common sense will always be at least slightly different from another's. Therefore common sense is not common at all. So I guess the proper term for it is sense.

Lezgeri, you have no sense.

[LezGeri]

Originally Posted by Tremor

Lezgeri, you have no sense.

My good sense tells me that if I had no sense I would be brain dead Tremor.

My good sense also tells me that if you think I'm brain dead that I can be reasonably certain that you are not a medically qualified person.

[Sven800]

common sense is something most people do not seem to have enough of.

[Natasha_s]

Originally Posted by jaobedoza

common sense isnt common to all

lol! the best one so far!

[lyno]

A attempt to define what common sense should be: Basic, non-emotional logic.

[LezGeri]

There are people who are so full of common sense that they haven't the slightest cranny left for their own sense.