Everyone appeals to common
sense. President Obama recently
used it:
“The idea to shut down the
government at a time when the economy is gaining some traction ... I am
assuming that they will not take that path… I have confidence that common sense
in the end will prevail.”
I’m not so sure he’s right
there that sound judgment will prevail.
You hear in the debate
over Immigration (A
plea for common sense and compassion in the immigration debate) where the
common sense appeal to is one of a humanitarian and, ultimately, moral basis in distinction to economic, social and enforcement aspects of the issue.
I might agree
with that priority, but this argument is not that common. common sense is a term with philosophical
origins, which is today commonly used to refer to a basic ability to perceive,
understand, and judge things which is shared by ("common to") nearly
all people, and can be reasonably accepted by nearly all people without any
need for debate. A practical example these wet summer days is if it looks like
rain take an umbrella when you go out.
This comes out of our everyday world of seemingly direct
perception and experience of getting wet. Common sense evokes the idea of practical
world and easy, harmonized knowledge and reasoning we can use to plan our day.
There is idea of a reasoning independent of particular
training and experience and hence shared by us all. Or perhaps we might say that just the common
life experience of growing up in the world gives us the base to reason
from. It’s not an idea that holds up
well under examination given the appeals to it we see used widely.
The trouble is that
common sense appeals often seen to be about values that immediate perception
and involving basic knowledge acquired from age 2-8. .
All too often the
topic is something we might or should agree on and don’t. In these cases common sense gets
argued for secondary things, not the primary ones and that is an important
debating point. Such hidden
agendas are technically way beyond a topic of 8 year olds. The argument in the previously cited
article is for an immigration bill that “upholds values Americans cherish—hard
work, opportunity and compassion.”
Sounds great but values are much more abstract than immediate
and a subject for well informed and reasoned debate with agreed upon facts.
Consider the reasoning applied to the recent Farm Bill:
Any technology that
helps me and my family earn a little bit more for each hard-fought acre we farm
is a welcome advancement. But not everyone chooses to see the benefit of these
technologies for America’s families.
It’s a simple, linear type argument but not everyone
would agree with the chain of reasoning because our knowledge, experience and
reasoning differ:
·
less tied to nature’s whims is good (does
nature really have whims?)
·
Biotech improves crop yield (or does it
reduce pest damage if we use it with,,,?)
·
Result more food crops that the world needs
(cost/benefit analysis please)
·
It helps my family so it is good (what about
damaging other families with pesticide food?)
All too often we get the
inverse labeled as “common sense”. There is, for example, a common sense show http://thecommonsenseshow.com/. It is a little disconcerting
to see some of its topics:
- the communist inspired practice of paying an income tax.
- The Invasion of Sharia Law with a claim:
o Sharia law, illegal
immigration and the free trade agreements are designed by the globalists to
subvert the Constitution and to undermine the national identity
We should be progressing in better and better common
sense. Some blame education for the lack
of it. I think the reasons go deeper and include an anti-intellectual culture
attitude which dis-respects reflection and encourages a divisive acceptance of
shallowness.
