Common Sense

[Philip G.]

What exactly is common sense? I often casually debate someone who always invokes common sense as a seeming moral authority, and the more I consider what he is saying, the more I am inclined to reject the existence of common sense entirely.  This man thinks common sense is some universal righteous mode of operation that all mankind shares.  And, that is why when someone does something stupid, you can say, "where's your common sense?"   

For starters, to believe something is common, you have to judge the hearts and minds of your neighbor, which is not something we can not do.  Secondly, there are five senses.  Which one is the common sense?  Is it some sixth sense? Is it some mesh of all of them? It sounds like pseudo-religion and/or mental illness in all honesty.  We are not all spiritually or physically connected, but that is what he makes it out to sound like.

Here is my take. The only common sense that all humans share is original sin.  When someone does something stupid, we need to be merciful as opposed to judgemental.  The stupid person has original sin.  So do I.  It illustrates a world of difference.