being frank

I almost didn’t write this commentary, mostly because I remembered touching upon the subject of common sense in a prior post. Yet when I went looking for it to ensure I wouldn’t be repeating myself, I realized that I was wrong. I hadn’t written about this once before.

I had written about it in five previous articles.

This revealed much about how we approach this subject. There’s always much to be said, yet very few opinions get shared. Granted, some folks just don’t like to post for whatever reason. Others hold back for fear of being judged. And then there are those who approach the subject with a kind of deliberate apathy: I know what it is, I realize that it’s sorely lacking these days, but there isn’t anything I can do about it.

So is it even worthwhile broaching the subject again? And if you’re thinking that the potential reasons for folks not sharing their thoughts on the matter are either incorrect or untrue, then is the problem that perhaps some people are no longer able to recognize what common sense is?

OK; let’s run with that potential assessment for a moment.

What is Common Sense?

According to the dictionary, its “good sense and sound judgment in practical matters.” Using the dictionary to peel back one more layer of insight, sense is defined as “a sane and realistic attitude to situations and problems; a reasonable or comprehensive rationale; one that is intelligible, justifiable, or practicable.” So, based on these definitions, we might all agree that anything said or done that is based on a reasonable idea or notion and is expressed with a measure of sensibility and planning would engender common sense.

But what makes sense common? I mean, sure – it’s using “good sense and sound judgment in practical matters”, right? But if we stop for a moment and really think about this, how have we identified the conventional nature of common sense? Before we go digging more holes in our prefrontal cortex to find the reasoning for this, let’s see what a few smart folks throughout history have shared on the matter:

“Common sense is not so common.” – Voltaire

“Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Common sense is in spite of, not as the result of education.” – Albert Einstein

“Common sense is that which judges the things given to it by other senses.” – William Shakespeare

“Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.” – Rene Descartes

These are insightful statements that all make, well, sense. Voltaire noted that common sense is not as common as we would make it out to be due to the confusing nature of inherited biases and misinformation that are so pervasive in society. So we at least know that people living in the 18^th century around the Enlightenment weren’t exactly accepting sense to be as common as advertised. Emerson saw common sense as street smarts, while Einstein seconded that notion. Shakespeare provides an earlier insight from the late 16^th to early 17^th century by proclaiming common sense to be that which we learn from observing the world using all of our senses. And Descartes (a somewhat contemporary of Shakespeare) saw the commonality of good sense rising in popularity due to a bloated personal perception of ego.

So it’s safe to say that sense has been treated as ‘common’ for quite some time. It developed through a keen power of observation that arose from those who were more prone to be hyper observant and who got involved with the daily activities of life (whether by choice or circumstance.) It does somewhat explain the scarcity of common sense amongst the royalty of the day, but that’s just conjecture on my part.

But let’s go a bit further back in time to see what early philosophers thought about how we should make sense of the world:

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.” – Plato

“A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.” – Plato

“All knowledge should be subject to examination and reason.” – Aristotle

Socrates, Plato and Aristotle formed the foundation of what became Western philosophy. In the quotes represented here, we see a trend whereby sense is seen as wisdom, and it’s a wisdom acquired through observational knowledge. Socrates led the charge by telling us that humility places us on a path to knowledge. While his student, Plato, advises us that wisdom seeks to share because of the importance knowledge brings to the table, irrespective of popular opinion or Groupthink. This was no doubt driven by the establishment of rhetoric about a century or so before Socrates came to be. But it was Plato’s student, Aristotle, whose quote gives us a glimpse into what we perceive as common sense – meaning that the knowledge we acquire must be “subject to examination and reason.”

Common sense has been studied and taken very seriously since the dawn of democracy. Its roots are deep in the soil of observational knowledge that has been studied, argued, and even lampooned by the likes of Voltaire and Descartes. It’s been proven to rise from our ability to observe what hides beyond the mundane and inconsequential, for that’s where the foundations of life, transcendence and even horror reside.

Einstein admonished us that common sense rises in spite of education instead of because of it. And that’s because knowledge serves to qualify common sense; its value was already established through reasoning and observation.

Final Thoughts

So why go through this whole exercise? Well, because writing about common sense for the sake of appreciating its value is like writing an ode to a pile of shit just to better appreciate its stench. You need to understand how we arrive at common sense in order to appreciate its value in helping us determine where all the shit in life can be found so we may avoid stepping in it.

All I’m suggesting you do is this: Look around you. Look at all the things that are happening in the immediacy of your life and beyond the walls of your personal protective shell. Let your senses take in what they see and feel and then observe every component of whatever it is that comes into view. Use your ability to reason the basics of right and wrong; good and bad; constructive or opportunistic. Keep in mind what Plato said about the needs of wise men and fools, and don’t allow yourself to be dragged into the cheap parlor tricks doled out by unprincipled opportunists. Dorothy Parker, a writer known for her acerbic wit, once said:

“There’s a hell of a distance between wisecracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.”

I truly believe that once you start to take into account what your senses take in and what your innate powers of observation say to you, you’ll develop an active common sense. And that’s when I hope and pray that you’ll start to see that there is a lot of dung that needs to get cleaned up for the sake of helping our way of life – and the democratic system that supports it, make sense again.