Common sense is basic instinctive knowledge people are expected to have to help them navigate their daily lives. The term common sense is a tricky concept, because it seems like it should be obvious, but it could be surprisingly difficult. It is called common sense because it's assumed to be common knowledge within a community or culture but it's not entirely common.
There are a few things common sense can help us do;
- Communicate effectively
- Solve everyday's problems
- Avoid obvious mistakes.
There are unspoken rules common sense is expected to teach us, such as saying thank you for a good deed done for us, knowing how to arrange plates in a rack, response to social situations, knowing where to pack a car, etc. It is common sense that shows a mother her baby is hungry when she cries. We often don't need to be told, we just know, because it's assumed to be the right approach to a situation at that moment.
But then there are a few reasons why common sense isn't common even as common as it is assumed to be. One of the reasons is Our experience varies. What might seem like common sense to you may be unfamiliar to someone because of our different background and childhood programming. Secondly, Individual differences. Our aptitude for reasoning differs, while it's easy for someone to grab the obvious reasoning, another struggles with it. And finally Context. Context matters a lot because what's applicable in one context may be different in another. What's considered to be sensible in one context may be inappropriate in another. So the context to which the common sense is applied can differ also. All this makes common sense not common at all.
In summary, common sense is that unspoken, shared knowledge that helps us navigate through life without having to overthink every little thing, however, it's not entirely common.