“Common” Sense: Is It Good Sense?

The new year, coupled with the new/old President, has ushered in a tsunami of actions often credited to “common sense.” But “common” to whom?

Most of us define “common sense” as a type of knowledge and judgment that is more or less shared by everyone within a society, coupled with the capacity to think and make reasonable decisions without specialized knowledge or training.

But the word “common” can mean “ordinary,” “unexceptional” and “average.”

“It’s just good, common, sense,” is the phrase that pays for so many of us for so long. But, while a notion may be “common,” does that necessarily make it “sensible?”

It wasn’t that long ago when “common sense” told us that:

• Smoking was good for you
• Professional wrestling was real
• Women and Blacks knew their places
• Homosexuals were best left in the closet

It was “common sense” in the 18th and 19th centuries that humans were divided into distinct racial hierarchies, with Europeans at the top of the heap. That common sense justified slavery, colonialism, and pseudoscience like phrenology.

For centuries, “common sense” said women were intellectually and emotionally inferior to men, justifying their exclusion from politics, education, and business. See also: Crow, Jim and Hitler, Adolph.

“Common Sense” also legitimized common misbeliefs about science, nutrition and physics:

• “Lightning never strikes the same place twice.” Tall structures and certain geographical locations are frequently struck by lightning multiple times.
• “Nuts and seeds cause diverticulitis.” this long-held nutritional advice was debunked once it was subject to proper research.
• “Microwaves cook food from the inside out.” Microwave ovens typically penetrate only about a centimeter into food, with the rest heated through internal heat transfer.

And now, “common sense” is being touted as the North Star for the second Trump administration. The 2024 Republican Party Platform frequently used the phrase as a guiding principle.

In his inaugural address, Trump declared his executive orders would “begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense.” Trump, himself, blamed the January 29th mid-air crash at Reagan National Airport on the FAA’s DEI hiring “because I have common sense.”

The “common sense” argument has always been appealing, perhaps because it’s easy. No experts needed. No research needed. I know it’s true because, well, I just know!

But let’s ask ourselves: Is “common sense” the real solution to a problem? Or is it the lazy, easy solution? Is it the “solution” that inspires the most views, clicks, or the strongest confirmation bias?

Or is the real solution to a problem not so “common?” Does it require a difficult, complicated, nuanced, long-term approach that does nothing for this quarter’s numbers or tomorrow’s approval rating?

Maybe the answer is developing the notion of “extraordinary sense.” Think of the musician with the perfect pitch, the painter who can capture both the reality and sense of a moment, or the sommelier who can distinguish hundreds of varieties of wine.

Or, better yet, think of the extraordinary people who have devoted most of their lives to a single pursuit like medical research, administering a complicated government agency, investigating the most serious crimes and threats to our nation, or defending our nation regardless of the political leadership of the moment.

Maybe that is the “common sense” that should endure.