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Well, let's start with some basics. 100% of a farming town/community are going to hold "don't grab an unknown fence, as it might be electric" to be common sens

Well, let's start with some basics. 100% of a farming town/community are going to hold "don't grab an unknown fence, as it might be electric" to be common sense. Yet there's going to be a sizable portion of the planet to whom that WON'T be obvious, and they'll try it. 100% of New Yorkers might know not to park your car overnight in a particular area, yet people new to the city will happily do so not knowing they may be putting themselves or their property in danger. If you have to put bounds on "common sense", or contextualise it at all, then it isn't common, it's just knowledge shared by a group of people of unknown size. You say it in your final sentence - "near universal". If it's not universal then what's the point? Where is the magical cutoff point of the population where "common knowledge" is no longer common? 95%? 50%? If so, why? Such speculation is ludicrous because it's going to change drastically from area to area and change even more so depending one what you're talking about. And if such a definition is so fluid, when you're positing that it is in fact universal, then it's pretty clearly false. "Common sense" and "common knowledge" are just shortcuts we use so we don't have to explain the entire contents of history in one go to explain one other concept. This is very useful. But relying on it existing _ALL_ the time is the work of a dangerous lunatic that has clearly not encountered a broad enough segment of humanity.

prox 3y ago
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I think I might gonna read up a bit more on the topic, it’s quite interesting. I think my personal stance is more on the idea that there is a lot we share as a species (from words, to symbols and human basics) and that could be grouped as common sense. But perhaps my grasp of english fails me here. Looking at the etymology it also seemed to stem from “community” , what is common among a community. I would wager things were very common for his peers when Thomas Payne wrote his book “Common Sense” , a world to him that was largely very the same in style and substance. Perhaps that concept simply can longer apply in a pluralistic global world or in a modern sense like you point out with your examples.

prox 3y ago

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I think I might gonna read up a bit more on the topic, it’s quite interesting. I think my personal stance is more on the idea that there is a lot we share as a species (from words, to symbols and human basics) and that could be grouped as common sense. But perhaps my grasp of english fails me here. Looking at the etymology it also seemed to stem from “community” , what is common among a community. I would wager things were very common for his peers when Thomas Payne wrote his book “Common Sense” , a world to him that was largely very the same in style and substance. Perhaps that concept simply can longer apply in a pluralistic global world or in a modern sense like you point out with your examples.