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abbass shahheidari

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Common Sense, Knowledge, and Science: Similarities and differences if any...

Please share your views to get a good and viable understanding of the world around us ... .

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  • abbass shahheidari

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    Mar 17 2013: Thanks for all your nice answers and since quite some friends talked of the extensive nature of the question, this time let's limit the discussion to the fact that KNOWLEDGE and definitely SCIENCE leads us to scientific method which is the basis for Research while common sense has no connection here and Knowledge is the main disturbing and more or less Abstract causing lots of pros and cons among scientists and philosophers...

  • Betty Anderson

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    Mar 15 2013: Common sense is looking at the situation, evaluating it using the knowledge you have and past experiences and reacting to it in the sensible way. We call it common sense and not reason because sometimes we are not able to pinpoint the logic that was used or all the data that we used to come to our decision. When someone looking at a situation and feels that it is a dangerous one, they are not normally able to pinpoint what made them enter fight or flight mode. Our animal bodies have evolved to sense danger by using sensory input and previous experience. We are just not able to easily explain it or understand it, so we call it common sense.

    Knowledge is the data we have accessible to us.

    I am a physics major. I know science. That being said, quantum mechanics does not increase my common sense or give me an advantage in day to day activities (other than when I am doing physics). Knowing the trajectories of balls in the park allows me to know when to duck. I can also determine whether certain physical things make sense, like climbing a precarious staircase or setting up a latter. Understanding some psychology allows one to understand how people work so that they can say or do the right things, or gain more insight into people. Science is a tool that we use to understand this data that we receive. It is how we understand and evaluate it in a more accurate way. For example, the more I learn about psychology, the more I am able to understand why some of my friends act the way they do. Science explains the world around us and gives us a way to understand what is going on as well.

  • george lockwood 20+

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    Mar 15 2013: Three overlapping views out of many. Now you have to look at valences, weigh, evaluate, and decide.

  • gale kooser 20+

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    Mar 15 2013: When a human first stuck his/her finger in a fire, they learned the hard way, that finger gets burned.
    So that knowledge was spread & soon (yrs.) became common sense.
    Just using that example, you could say: Common sense comes from knowledge but in a lot of cases, intuition plays a big part too. That small voice that says: Don't do that! OR Go for it!.
    To break these down into similarities & differences, or even sciences, would depend on how each human thinks & the amt. of knowledge & common sense they each have. Even their ancestral brain might play a large part.
    I am a lay person & intelligent but I rely on my common sense.
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    W. Ying 10+

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    Mar 15 2013: .
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    Common sense is the science proved many, many times in our everyday life.
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  • greg dahlen 20+

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    Mar 14 2013: That is too vast a question. Can you narrow it down somehow?

  • Barry Palmer 50+

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    Mar 14 2013: Generally, science represents the very top quality information and knowledge available to us. Even so, not all scientifically derived knowledge is completely reliable. Some scientific results are better than others.

    Science is limited to phenomena that can be reliably repeated and measured in the here and now.

    Every day everyone uses information and knowledge that has not been gained or confirmed scientifically. Even in the twenty first century our survival and prosperity relies on non-scientific knowledge. The quality of this information and knowledge varies from useless to completely reliable. Unfortunately society has developed no standards for the quality of knowledge. The quality of knowledge and information is a matter of judgment, either of the individual or of a group. This leads some people to believe that all non-scientific information is unreliable and useless in public situations, particularly for making public policy. That attitude is baseless and is just as risky as the rejection of scientific results because they do not fit into some world view.

    The proper use of science in the making of public policy is becoming an important issue. The issue should be expanded to how we judge the quality of any and all relevant knowledge. If we could develop a consensus on that issue, most arguments would fade away.
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    Grace Greene 10+

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    Mar 14 2013: If you have a low EQ, the highest IQ in the world combined with all of the factoids in the world will not save you from yourself.
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      W. Ying 10+

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      Mar 15 2013: .
      Yes.
      EQ (emotional intelligence quotient) is huge amount of "science" saved in our souls.
      It is proved by our ancestors 10,000 years ago.

    • abbass shahheidari

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      Mar 17 2013: see below

    • abbass shahheidari

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      Mar 17 2013: My answer to friends seems to have gone up in the list of the comments today March 17, 2013: 4:15GMT.
      TXS
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