| n.
Sound judgment not based on specialized knowledge; native good judgment.
[Translation of Latin sensus communis, common feelings of humanity.]
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common sense
n : sound practical judgment;
"he hasn't got the sense God gave little green apples"
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Common sense, according to Sir W. Hamilton:
(a) "The complement of those cognitions or convictions which we receive from
nature, which all men possess in common, and by which they test the truth
of knowledge and the morality of actions."
(b) "The faculty of first principles." These two are the philosophical
significations.
(c) "Such ordinary complement of intelligence, that, if a person be deficient
therein, he is accounted mad or foolish."
(d) When the substantive is emphasized: "Native practical intelligence, natural
prudence, mother wit, tact in behavior, acuteness in the observation of
character, in contrast to habits of acquired learning or of speculation."
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It must also be noted that "common sense" is a bit of a misnomer... after all,
how can it be called "common" when it isn't very common at all?
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