Why Common Sense Isn't Common
Common Sense or Power Move? The One Question That Reveals the Difference
Host Leslie Poston argues that “common sense” is often used to end conversations and universalize one person’s perception rather than provide evidence. She explains this through naïve realism (people experience their perceptions as objective reality), embodied cognition (gut intuitions shaped by bodily and lived experience), and positionality (social location shapes what becomes perceptually salient). She cites the “WEIRD” problem in psychology showing many supposedly universal findings don’t generalize across cultures, and connects “common sense” to Gramsci’s hegemony, where dominant-group assumptions become normalized as natural and inevitable. Without endorsing relativism, she notes motivated reasoning can make conclusions feel obvious before scrutiny. She closes with a practical test for sussing out “common sense” claims.
00:00 Common Sense Setup
02:04 Obvious as Default
03:27 Naive Realism Lens
06:17 Embodied Intuition
08:28 Positional Blind Spots
10:04 WEIRD Not Universal
14:08 Common Sense as Power
17:16 Not Relativism
18:03 Motivated Reasoning
20:10 One Key Question
21:13 Practical Takeaways
23:56 Closing and Next Week
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Host Leslie Poston argues that “common sense” is often used to end conversations and universalize one person’s perception rather than provide evidence. She explains this through naïve realism (people experience their perceptions as objective reality), embodied cognition (gut intuitions shaped by bodily and lived experience), and positionality (social location shapes what becomes perceptually salient). She cites the “WEIRD” problem in psychology showing many supposedly universal findings don’t generalize across cultures, and connects “common sense” to Gramsci’s hegemony, where dominant-group assumptions become normalized as natural and inevitable. Without endorsing relativism, she notes motivated reasoning can make conclusions feel obvious before scrutiny. She closes with a practical test for sussing out “common sense” claims.
00:00 Common Sense Setup
02:04 Obvious as Default
03:27 Naive Realism Lens
06:17 Embodied Intuition
08:28 Positional Blind Spots
10:04 WEIRD Not Universal
14:08 Common Sense as Power
17:16 Not Relativism
18:03 Motivated Reasoning
20:10 One Key Question
21:13 Practical Takeaways
23:56 Closing and Next Week
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