Common Sense an Essential and Integral aspect of

Human Subject and Communication

            Man is a social rational animal. He cannot live without the other: the person, situations, expressions, happenings etc. He is faced with ample ordinary events of life. When he performs all these ordinary events of life he does not as the question how they should be done? Why they should be done? He just performs them or rather the actions come automatically to him. We can call this common sense. We might ask the question what is common sense? Common sense is “the general sense, feeling or judgment of mankind.” It is the cluster of beliefs or persuasions somehow ‘felt’ to be true by most people. Hence, to enter a room, one must open the door to enter in. all people agree that one needs to open the door to enter the house or a room.

            In another word, common sense is understood as the ordinary understanding - without which a man is out of his mind, or feeble minded. It is ordinary, practical, good sense in everyday affairs. It goes well with what Bernard Lonergan calls the common sense to be particular and concrete. It never seeks for universally valid knowledge. Its function is to master each situation as it arises. In common sense there is no use for a technical language and no tendency towards a formal mode of speech. Here one must say what one means and mean what one says. Common sense has no theoretical inclinations. It remains completely in the familiar world of things for us. And so, common sense is very much essential and integral aspect of human subject. In the succeeding sections we shall see how Common sense essential in the human subject presenting the different patterns of experience of human subject.   

            First of all we must note that the subjective field of common sense is subject itself: the person. It is the whole person who is involved in the process of common sense. The human person undergoes different patterns of experiences. They are biological, aesthetic, intellectual and dramatic. In all these patterns are the subjective fields of common sense.    

            The plant grows from its environment. The animals too survive. Each one has its own ways and means to grow and survive. The human person is endowed with senses, memory, imagination, conation, emotion and bodily movements, which help the man in his biological development. All these converge in reproduction and self-preservation. Hence, in order to taste we use our hand, open our mouth, put the food in the mouth and through tongue we taste it. Our common sense tells us how to use the things and when to use. The extroversion is a basic characteristic of the biological pattern of experience. It is common to all. For example our body grows.

            The common sense plays an important role in the aesthetic pattern of experience in the person. Apart from growing biologically, the person experiences exuberance and joy. This is because of conscious living. Conscious living is itself a joy that reveals the spontaneous authenticity. However, it is a spontaneous and self-justifying joy. There exists in man a natural way to be joyful. Conscious living is itself a joy that reveals its spontaneous authenticity in the untiring play of children etc. We experience and express our emotions accordingly.  

            The person does not just use common sense in the ordinary events of life, he also uses it in the intellectual growth. The intellectual pattern of experience consists in being attentive to data, intelligent in searching for an explanation, reasonable in weighing the evidence and responsible in affirming the precise task. It calls for perseverance, practice, analysis and reflection. And so, in our reflection and analysis we need to ask the right question at the right time. Common sense helps us to put the right question at the right time. 

            Man is an animal: a social animal. Mere animality would make him indecent in the society. In his day to day living he acts. When he acts he does not do only biological, aesthetic or intellectual performances but he in turn, through his common sense knowledge betters his life. For example, man is not just happy with biological performances like eating and drinking but he brings about dignity and some standard with his eating and drinking. Hence, we have table manners, social behaviours etc. All these are taught to the children by the parents.

            Further the aesthetic pattern is manifested not merely in art but first of all the man’s first work of art is his own living. The fair, the beautiful, and the admirable are embodied by man in his own body and actions before it is given expressions in painting and sculpture in music and poetry. Hence, style is the man before it appears in the artistic product. In this style, man not just lives but lives with dignity. In other words, man works to live, must work to make his living dignified. When he lacks his dignified living he suffers embarrassment, shame, degradation. This is all the characteristic of dramatic pattern of experience. Further, man being a social animal, lives and communicates with others in the society. In the theatre of life, the drama he plays with others teaches him. He too learns and imitates others. The other becomes inevitable in his life. In this drama of life he gets insights, the insights emerge and accumulate. These insights also govern the dramatic living. Further the insights are corrected through trial and error and by self-correcting process.

           Hence, common sense is an essential part of human existence. It gives us the beauty of living and acting. It is a way of communicating with others and with ourselves. In fact, common sense assists the person in all the patterns of experience the biological, aesthetic, intellectual and dramatic. Common sense becomes inevitable in the life of person. Without it man would be mere animal. Today due to technological and scientific growth the use of common sense is losing its ground. It has become uncommon. People have become more accurate in doing things with proper proofs and taste. The challenge today is to get back to the common sense way of life. In order to have better life we need to get back to common sense life. A healthy communication is possible when we deal with each other in a common sensical way.  

May Common Sense help us to live a bright and better life.