Intuition and common sense | INFJ Forum

Intuition and common sense

Gaze

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Sep 5, 2009
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So, I think there's an often misleading assumption about what makes a belief or view common sense. Today, it came to me that what people often confuse for common sense is intuition. Meaning that if something comes naturally in thinking or reasoning to us, we assume it's common sense for everyone else. So, we expect others to pickup on those views or feelings and see or make particular links or connections easily because it appears "natural" to us, and so we assume everyone would easily see or make sense of things in the same way. Consequently, we confuse intuitive thinking for common sense. It seems natural to us, so we assume it's the same reasoning or thinking that's easy and available to everyone else, when as we've come to realize, that not everyone thinks the same way.

Thoughts?
 
Common sense isn't deliberate...it's a subconscious processor, we just know if something "makes sense" or is "reasonable".
It's essentially logic without words- formal logical methods such as the syllogism are a verbal emulation of the natural neural processes of common sense, perhaps like the very simple and/or/nor/etc logic gates in a computer chip. The difference is that common sense is often shallow and superficial and a reflexive indeliberate form of reasoning that we are seldom aware of thus can lead people very wrong because it does not look very far or deep in to matters or present it's arguments consciously, it is given to the bias and wind of emotion blowing the arrow of reason "off target", and creating "feelings" of being right while hitting something else entirely. These are subconscious superficial reasonings we all do without thinking about it, aka "common sense" is also "prejudice" or "prejudge", which is why it so often fails. Common examples range from Einstein being the smartest person in the world, to Elvis was the greatest music legend, to being a gold toothed rap artist really does attract women just like in the videos.

Here's an analogy: common sense we all start out with it, it's quick and reflexive its like shooting a bow without sights, without much training, or method, it is just fire for effect, and when we hit the target it gives us a sense of "understanding" more or less.
Logic and reason is like putting on sights to your bow, it is much slower, but far more accurate and takes only a little training to get pretty good, and probably remains the most accurate way to shoot, plus we can communicate it to others or where to aim to get the same results. Words allow us to far better hold concepts in our mind and manipulate them, thus logic is a slow but aware mental exercise, that can compensate for the wind of bias.
"Intuitive reason" is like "intuitive aiming" in archery, it's common sense and done without words, but with such training in logic and others, that one begins to use common sense with a sight picture while aiming, such that with great practice one can shoot both very fast and very accurately without thinking about it, and even occasionally be aware of the why "it makes sense", and communicate where to shoot to others, it is a greater degree of common sense- logic that has become subconscious, and common sense that has been strengthened and honed, both by great practice in many forms.
 
I think we have two impulses as a species

One impulse is to learn by trial and error

The other is to know without knowing how we know (intuition)

Science is the manifestation of the first impulse. But many great leaps in science are made by the second impulse

Both impulses have validity and should be respected. the problem comes when a person(s) think that only one is valid and denies the validity of the other


There are things we learn as a society that become passed on as cultural memes or taboos eg incest can create abnormalities and then there are things that are genetic memory (no one teaches us how to breathe)

So 'common sense' could be something that is innate. Chomksy argued against the behaviouralists. He argued that we are born innately decent. Tests have certainly shown that some species eg monkeys have an innate sense of fairness

So common sense could be something that is passed on within our genetic code or it could be passed on culturally eg as a taboo or it could be a learned behaviour (once we have stuck our hand in a fire and burned it we won't do it again)....these things could be said to be fairly objective in a sense

Arguing that missmangement of resources will lead to damage to the environment and to famine could also be argued to be objective common sense rather than an opinion as it is grounded in reality even if the common behaviour doesn't match it; so we can as a society agree in consensus on something and yet not abide by it
 
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However, much of what we call common sense is not logical or objective or natural. It's cultural and learned and having adopted these beliefs and adapted whole lives and civilizations to it's belief and practice, it comes to be seen as common sense, and thus we perceive it as natural way of thinking when it in truth it's simply learned way of thinking which appears natural to us. When something appears natural, it feels instinctive or intuitive. Much of the problems with cultural communication are often based on misunderstandings of cultural differences in thinking. What's often seen as logical or a "natural" or common sense way of thinking to one culture is seen as nonsense in another. What is perceived as smart and intelligent in one culture is viewed and naive, misguided or foolish in another. Without cultural context and perspective, different kinds of thinking are dismissed as foolish, because one particular type of thinking is being perceived as "natural" and logical" which merely reflects ethnocentric approaches. What is right in one culture, is seen as wrong in another. That's the rub with describing something as "logical" or "common sense" when it really isn't.

Edit: And too often claims of logical and common sense thinking are simply ways to claim superiority in thinking compared to thinking which is perceived as lesser or simpler or inadequately supported. It allows us to pose our assertions about what is "right" thinking without having to justify it by claiming it's "common sense"
 
Common sense is overapreciated...:)