Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Question

Today in class there was a conversation about common sense. My question is what are your feelings about the phase: "the smarter you are the less common sense you have."?

5 comments:

Steve Backhus said...

That is a tough one. I have to believe, as a philosophy major in a past life, that logic is important. The genius of the LOTR books is that they focus on what needs to be done NOW! That being said I thing that there is definitely a place for "book smarts" in LOTR. Even if the direction is vauge...

Steve Backhus

Eachus24601 said...

I think common sense and intelligence are completely different and unrelated forms of wisdom.

I think people choose which type of wisdom they want to focus on and sometimes neglect the other. I have known people that never finished high school that can build a house, fix a car, and cook a gourmet meal. On the other side of the coin there are people who can do complex physics in their heads, but can't change a flat.

I think it is determined by what people feel is valuable. If we were still hunter gatherer's there would be very little people with "book smarts" and would be limited to elders who could no longer join in the work.

Sarah Hoerner said...

Yes, I definitely agree with what eachus24601 stated. I also believe that common sense and intelligence, or book smart is not the same thing. I know plenty of people who are book smart, but have no common sense in the outside world. One of my friends from highschool was nominated for valedictorian and to this day cannot drive, literally. She continues to drive up "do not enter" ways, including a highway exit ramp. In college, she was able to receive her degree in 2 years. Again, I state that common sense and intelligence is not the same.

Megan Becker said...

I agree with the last two people. There are plenty of people out there who can tell you anything you want to you know about a certain subject, but yet when it comes to social situations or other "common sense" things, they are completely at a loss. Few people have both, and if they do, then they are a lucky breed.

ekuker said...

so is common sense a sense of what it means to survive in a particular society? and if so what does that say about loners? That they choose to live on the outskirts because they can't fix a flat tire? Or are loners those individuals who possess both types of "smarts"?