"How do you know that?" . . . "It's common sense!"

I wrote a list of topics we covered in class. It was difficult to pick one that interested me so much, I would want to write a 10 page paper about it. I am still thinking of ideas, but for now, what most interests me is common sense. Luckily, this topic is covered by Lakoff and so I will use this post as a starting point for exploring my ideas.

I have always used common sense to make my decisions and to decide right from wrong. Lakoff writes that “We think of ‘common sense’ itself as based on reality and our own down-to-earth, theory-free, hardheaded observations of that reality.” I completely agree, but what makes it common sense is that many other people think the same way.

What intrigues me is who decides what common sense is. How do so many people decide to believe in the same thing? What makes that idea right and why should people follow? How is common sense changing and why are things that were not acceptable before, acceptable now?

Lakoff also writes that people who have views other than the ones of common sense, must justify their positions, while those who use common sense don’t need any validation. I can see how this is true. While I don’t need any explanation for having manners (“Please can I have that?”), I expect those who don’t to have some excuse or at least to say ‘sorry’ (“Give that to me.” --- “What?”).

It is easy to see the change in common sense when using scientific examples. One thing Lakoff writes is “That a woman played an active role in determining her child’s genetic characteristics would have seemed equally absurd: it was ‘obvious’ that she was only the vessel that contained the homunculus donated by the father, which came complete with all heritable traits.” We now commonly know that it is both the mother and father who contribute to the traits of their offspring, thanks to science.

In social situations, there is usually no tangible proof for change. It used to be common sense for a man to be chivalrous. To open a door for a woman, or simply act like a gentleman was just done, but now it is common sense that a woman is independent and is perfectly capable of opening a door herself. Also, men tend to act more like burping/farting men, rather then well-behaved men.

The above example is something that is still in the changing phase because many women still want to be swept of their feet, yet want to be seen as independent, which put men in a difficult situation; however, that’s another topic. It is also an example of how we hold on to old common sense. Lakoff writes “Change always entails struggle, often as now taking the form of a ‘language war,’ because we defend old frames, and create new ones, through language.”

Yeah… the more I explore common sense, the more I want to use it for my final research paper.