Common sense - what is it and who has it?

[JivinJeffJones]

What is common sense? What function best contributes towards it? Is it a combination of functions? Which type tends to have the most of it, and which tends to have the least?

[Athenian200]

Originally Posted by JivinJeffJones

What is common sense? What function best contributes towards it? Is it a combination of functions? Which type tends to have the most of it, and which tends to have the least?

It's either Si or Te. Not sure which.

Basically, it's what "everybody knows." Or rather, what most people believe. It's the assumption that whatever most people seem to believe must be correct. I tend to doubt this, so I don't have it. I prefer to believe in what I actually understand.

I usually don't value it, and call it "commoner's sense."

(Probably because of Ni and Fe.)

[Economica]

Originally Posted by JivinJeffJones

What is common sense?

My associations to this term are similar to athenian200's; common sense is what opinions are based on when arguments are lacking (or at least unidentified).

As such, I'm going to go with Si.

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"Theory is when you understand everything but nothing works. Practice is when things work but no one knows why. Here, we combine theory and practice: Nothing works and no one knows why." - Sign on my neighbor's door, I don't know the source.

[JivinJeffJones]

Hmm, I have rarely heard common sense associated with tradition. I've only really heard it associated with practicality.

[Economica]

Originally Posted by JivinJeffJones

Hmm, I have rarely heard common sense associated with tradition. I've only really heard it associated with practicality.

Maybe people with dominant Ni hear it more often as an argument against change.

[JivinJeffJones]

According to Cambridge Dictionary (damn, I should have included this in the OP, but I was too lazy):

Common Sense: the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way.



That's what I mean when I talk about common sense, and that's the sense I've heard it used most often. Having said that, I have heard it being used as justification for doing something a certain way when no other justification is known. (eg "Everyone knows you can't eat dog biscuits. It's common sense.")

[Economica]

Originally Posted by JivinJeffJones

Having said that, I have heard it being used as justification for doing something a certain way when no other justification is known.

Exactly - so when you suggest doing something a new way and hear 'common sense' as the counter-argument, it becomes a justification of tradition.

Mind you, sometimes common sense/tradition is right and Ni is wrong. What I try to do is figure out why something has become tradition, i.e. find the unknown counter-argument(s).

[Athenian200]

Originally Posted by Economica

Mind you, sometimes common sense/tradition is right and Ni is wrong. What I try to do is figure out why something has become tradition, i.e. find the unknown counter-argument(s).

That's exactly why I don't like it, it doesn't ask why it's tradition, it just follows it. It just seems like a way of tossing something aside without examining it. There's no "reason" involved, it's just being thrown at you, almost like the person is telling you "it's right/wrong because I said so."

It's not that I'm not willing to believe they're right, I just expect a better reason/answer than "common sense." I expect a person who wants me to believe something to be able to understand and explain what they're telling me to believe.

[Jennifer]

Originally Posted by Economica

Exactly - so when you suggest doing something a new way and hear 'common sense' as the counter-argument, it becomes a justification of tradition.

Mind you, sometimes common sense/tradition is right and Ni is wrong. What I try to do is figure out why something has become tradition, i.e. find the unknown counter-argument(s).

Yes... just because Si is a static inner map doesn't mean it's not based on something.

The individual gathers it from real-life experience and the real-life experience of others: "Here is what works / is true, you can just accept it as a truth." And it is incorporated via Si into the inner map.

Lots of times, common sense can be correct. Unfortunately, common sense doesn't really examine the particulars of a situation and thus is inappropriate/inefficient sometimes.

I think Te often gets paired with Si... because Te is the standardized methodical way of doing something. Procedures can become honed down to a science.

[Economica]

Originally Posted by athenian200

That's exactly why I don't like it. It just seems like a way of tossing something aside without examining it. There's no "reason" involved, it's just being thrown at you, almost like the person is telling you "because I said so."

I know exactly how frustrated you feel. I recommend engaging your Ni as a devil's advocate against itself - try to brainstorm what might be the argument inherent in the tradition (that is, not necessarily the wilful intention behind its institution - but the underlying mechanism that has sustained it). Then you can weigh that against the alternative your Ni has come up with.