The Saddest Truth About Smart People

Many of them, while very smart, have no common sense.

Are you able to put your head around an understanding of common sense? If you are, do believe that there has been an increase or decrease in a common sense within the general populace?

Common sense is what people in common would agree: that which they “sense” in common as their shared natural understanding. Some use the phrase to refer to beliefs that in their opinion they consider would in most people’s experience be of sound judgment, without dependence upon study or research, but based upon what is believed to be knowledge held by people “in common”.

Common sense is defined by Merriam-Webster as, “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.”[ Thus, “common sense” (in this view) equates to the knowledge and experience which most people already have, or which the person using the term believes that they do or should have. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as, “the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way”.

Whichever definition is used, identifying particular items of knowledge as “common sense” is difficult.

This obituary was published in the London Times over 6 years ago, and was recently sent to me by a friend who…