Common sense (average understanding/practical wisdom) is widespread and can be very useful.
If you’re going for a walk and the clouds are low and dark, common sense’s suggestion that you take an umbrella is a good one.
But there are areas where common sense is not enough. For instance, for thousands of years human common sense took it as obvious that the sun moved across the sky east to west each day, re-appearing in the east every morning to repeat the performance.
Not until an uncommon person, with special observational and reasoning capabilities, came to think about it, did it become clear that what we saw was not the result of the sun flying through the sky, but of the Earth itself spinning one revolution each day. Uncommon sense was necessary to reveal the truth.
A good deal of the knowledge on which today’s civilisation rests, is the product of uncommon sense, and would never have been revealed by ordinary common sense.
Climate change is a clear example. The prospect of climate change was revealed by observation and understanding of what was happening to the Earth’s atmosphere – the build-up of carbon dioxide and other pollutants – and an ability to calculate how that build-up would increasingly trap excess heat at the Earth’s surface.
There are some who would cite common sense to dispute those conclusions.
They could just as well dispute that the Earth rotates and argue that the sun flies across the sky every day.
Our MPs have to decide on many serious issues that affect all our future.
Whilst common sense may be a way of determining some of the more straightforward issues (which certainly exist), I would hope that MPs would make use of their special opportunities to develop their understanding of issues where uncommon sense is required, and then pursue the necessary action with appropriate vigour.
John Tippler
Spalding
