What is Common Sense?
What is Common Sense?
Common sense is "everyday logic".
The term "common sense" was first coined by Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, who said that humans were the only animal on the planet equipped with an innate sense of logic. Aristotle said everyone is born with the potential to think logically, therefore logic is the COMMON sense. (ie the logical sense is common to all humans).
What does common sense logic mean in practice?
There are three distinguishing characteristics of common sense:
- A facts first system.
- A rejection of mystical or magical explanations.
- Always practical and workable.
1. The first rule of common sense is: Get the facts.
Common sense is a facts first system of thought. It is reality based. Common sense is about dealing with the world as it really is, not how you feel it should be.
Therefore, you need to ensure you don't make decisions based on instinct, vague feelings, rumour, guesses or fake news.
Check your facts and check your sources.
Sherlock Holmes said, "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has the facts".
2. Common sense implies a rejection of mystical or magical methods.
Common sense means we reject methods that rely on luck, chance, fate, the stars, destiny, the spirits, or that things happen "somehow".
Common sense tells us that people don't pass exams, just because they are lucky, or win races because fate is on their side.
People do not fail because "now is not their time".
Common sense looks for non-mystical, non-religious, non-magical explanations and methods.
If something happens, then it happens due to worldly, natural causes, NOT supernatural, magical, or religious causes.
So common sense is a logical, factual, scientific way of looking at things.
3. Practical and workable.
Because common sense is factual, it is also practical.
Because it is scientific, it is also pragmatic.
Therefore, all your theories must be practical, workable and achievable in the real world. Therefore, never evade facts you don't like and never invent facts you wish were true.
How can you develop common sense?
Resolve to deal with the world head-on; take a hard-headed, practical, factual, non-mystical approach to your life and its problems.
If you do that, then people around you will say you have plenty of common sense.
Blogs by Email
Do you want to receive an email whenever we post a new blog? The blogs contain article 5-10 minutes long - ideal for reading during your coffee break!
Your Comments
Further Reading in Personal Effectiveness
-
How to cut costs and become more efficient
How to cut costs and become more efficient Here is a good motto to memorise "Complexity and waste thrive on each other" You want to achieve your goals. In order to do that you must: Maximise your productivity Minimise your costs Efficiency is the ratio that relates your productivity to your...
Read Article > -
Self-Discipline: Mind Over Mood
Self discipline makes a big difference to your success. Self discipline is the act of placing the power of your mind OVER your mood.
Read Article > -
Effective People Management
Effective People Management The key question WHY? Everyone loves the question WHY? Toddlers keep pestering their mothers with WHY questions. Why? Why is the sky blue? Why does the cat wag its tail? Why is it snails have shells? The "why" question is so common, because we instinctively know that we...
Read Article > -
Why people act the way they do
Why people act the way they do Some people seem to you, to act in strange ways. They do things that seem to make no sense. They like things that you don't like. They say things you would not say. They believe in things that you do not think are true...
Read Article > -
How to feel great everyday
The words you use have the power to change how you feel, both in positive and negative ways. Find out how important it is to use the right words, to make yourself feel great everyday and enable you to perform even better.
Read Article >