Common sense facts for kids

Aristotle, the first person known to have discussed "common sense", described it as the ability with which animals (including humans) process sense-perceptions, memories and imagination (phronein) in order to reach many types of basic judgments. In his scheme, only humans have real reasoned thinking (noein), which takes them beyond their common sense.

For the pamphlet by Thomas Paine see Common Sense (pamphlet)

Common sense is what most people would agree about. It is a simple judgment based on the facts of a situation. Think of it as the basic knowledge and experience that nearly everyone has. The Cambridge Dictionary says it is "the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way."

Common sense helps us understand the world around us. It is a natural way of thinking that most people share. For example, it is common sense not to touch a hot stove. It is also common sense to look both ways before crossing the street. These are things we learn from experience or from others.

What Common Sense Means

Common sense has a few important meanings. One meaning is our ability to notice things like movement or size. It is how our minds process what our senses tell us. This helps us make quick decisions.

Another meaning is our natural understanding of other people and our community. It is about knowing how to act in social situations. This includes being polite or understanding unspoken rules. Both ideas refer to a basic awareness and ability to judge. Most people are expected to have these skills naturally.

When Common Sense Can Be Wrong

Even though it is helpful, common sense can sometimes be wrong. What seems obvious to us might not be true. Science often shows us things that are very different from what common sense suggests.

For example, it seems like the Sun travels around the Earth. You can see the Sun rise in the east and set in the west every day. For a long time, people thought this was common sense. But science proved that the Earth actually travels around the Sun.

Another example is how things work at a tiny level, like inside atoms. Or how things behave when they move super fast, almost as fast as light. Our everyday common sense does not help us understand these things. Scientists use special tools and math to figure them out. This shows that common sense is useful for daily life, but it has limits.

Images for kids

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  Avicenna was an important thinker who wrote about common sense in the Middle Ages.

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  Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor and philosopher. He influenced ideas about common sense in humans.

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  René Descartes showed how our senses send information to our brain. This information then goes to our spirit.

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  René Descartes helped shape how we understand common sense today. He saw it as a widely shared way of judging things.

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  Anthony Ashley Cooper supported a Roman idea of common sense.

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  Giambattista Vico studied old ideas about wisdom found in common sense.

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  Thomas Reid started a school of thought called the Scottish school of Common Sense.

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  Immanuel Kant thought common sense was useful for understanding art. But he disagreed that it was a basis for real knowledge.

See also

In Spanish: Sentido común para niños