Do we need to make this distinction?
Since our ability to transfer our point-of-view to others not as a theory, but as commonsense allows them to accept our ideas with greater ease, I’d say yes, it helps to understand the distinction.
So what is theory? And what is commonsense?
We tend to associate theory with thoughts at our desks and in academic institutions; and commonsense with the field where the action lies. Hence, commonsense differs from theory by its practical essence.
Theory is what Boyle’s Law in physics is to me – I don’t know it for a fact; it’s what my schoolbook had said. That pressure and volume are inversely proportional.
Commonsense, on the other hand, is something I’ve experienced – a thing I’ve always known.
- The fact that wheels go round – We’ve all seen bottle caps, hula hoops, car wheels roll along.
- The fact that airplanes fly – We’ve always seen them fly.
- The fact that fire burns the finger – We’ve experienced it or felt the heat.
Today, these are irrefutable facts. There was a time when believing in them would have been foolish. It takes us years of seeing things with our own eyes and living with them to accept them as common sense; or be born with them – like wheels and planes.
Or experience them – like the child that must burn its finger before it stops putting the finger in the fire – or go close enough to the heat to see the commonsense.
Until then, your words of caution are just so much theory to it. And theories are meant to be tested. Or left as theories until proven right.
On the other hand, people rarely put commonsense to the test. It’s considered foolish to do so.
Inside your Domain – Outside your Domain
This fact is applicable to your domain too. Commonsense isn’t universal. Let’s say you are a professional in marketing, finance, human resource, operations. Or a writer, painter, doctor, musician.
Your domain understanding is full of commonsense to you since you’ve experienced it, lived with it. It is theory to others because they haven’t lived with it.
If you don’t pause a moment to understand this fact, it becomes a battlefield of you vs them. Inside your domain vs outside your domain.
Understanding this helps you create a bridge.
So the next time you try to convince your boss, colleague, daughter or husband about the commonsense involved in your point-of-view, step back a moment. And ask yourself, “Is this commonsense to them?
Now ask yourself a second question, how do you convince them of the validity of your commonsense within your domain? Flip it and ask yourself, when would you believe a new thing as commonsense?
Going through the experience is a long, expensive, time-consuming task and all you have is a short half hour or a presentation in which to take them through it. The only significant way is to experience it vicariously – with irrefutable examples, and numbers that cannot be ignored; not as an opinion. It helps us transfer our own experience to others in an acceptable form.
Proving the Commonsense
The acceptance comes about when your examples and imagery are –
1. Tangible – If the results are hard to ignore
2. Immediate – The effect is immediate and
3. Consistent – I can see it happening time after time.
If the effect takes years to show up, if it’s as intangible as emotions, and if it lacks in consistency, there’s a high probability it will not become commonsense to the other.
So pick up tangible, immediate, consistent examples and show the commonsense through them.
But, will others sense the common sense once you’ve made this effort?
Maybe yes. But in at least half the instances, maybe not.
Remember that it’s nothing against you, your knowledge or your capability. More likely than not, it is discarded if it threatens their thinking – if it challenges rather than confirms their thinking.
That’s the theme for the next post.
Poetry in Life 
Glad to have stumbled across this on FB 🙂
This is an idea I end up debating quite often- the definition of the word ‘theory’. In science, a theory is the result of a set of logical observations and/ or experiments.
For example, if you sit (and hence apply pressure) on an overly-full suitcase, its volume can be compressed so that you can close it ;). Boyle just happened to come up with a precise equation to describe the phenomenon. Similarly, the theory of evolution takes a set of observations, and tries to come up with a reasonable explanation.. I liked the fact that in your statement about communicating common sense, you brought out a similar idea 🙂
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Dear Jyoti,
The whole thing began when I was having a discussion with my product management head. I handle marketing communications which means my team takes on where the development team leaves it off – to put it briefly.
During the discussion, the product management head asked, “So what does your theory say about it?” That got me thinking. What were marketing truths and hence commonsense to me were, it seemed, viewed as theory by others. I needed to handle this since I hadn’t been particularly successful in communicating these truths or fundamentals to the management.
So I wondered what would make the “theory” become “commonsense” to them. That instead of physically experiencing the events, they could do it vicariously, making it meaningful and varied to them. This can be done through examples as I’ve indicated in the post.
This post may not pertain to science and its theories the way it does to general usage. Since theory to science has a different meaning altogether. It means an explanation that is generally accepted as true. But when it comes to general usage, it refers to an explanation that may or may not be held to be true – more often than not, it is treated as just an opinion.
Thank you
Madhuri
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Hi
It was interesting to read.
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Thank you Pradeep
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While read this well written blog, it came to me that the realization of ‘truth’ comes with time. By that time either that truth has no more relevance or, it’s a bygone conclusion and has to be merely, formally accepted and endorsed.
Changing people’s view points is a cumbersome and thankless job. You might label all such people who tried t change the view points as reformers… and the view points as religions too.
And then there are time when even “The Truth” is not the same… nothing like universal truth.
By saying this, I do not mean that the attempt to change the view points is an exercise in futility.
After all, nothing succeeds like success.
Am I moving in concentric circles?
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So how would you describe the right measures for expressing the philosophy stating truth.
I would say, however, that the terms “truth” and “freedom” for me have no reference, that all things make differences, and that my understanding of such declarations is closer to the ability of realizing what is really happening in the western-world and cyberspace. Always think outside the box while embracing opportunities that appear, wherever they might be.
“Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone
else does and thinking something different.”
— Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Gino
ps. Anyway KEEP POSTING! I like this tread!
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Thank you for your encouraging words.
I find that Truth and Freedom are two concepts which have hidden depths and my views may or may not match with the current definitions of what is truth and what is freedom. I hope to treat them in future posts. While I hope that my blog is of some help to others, to me it is an area of self-exploration where I find the meaning within myself before I can post on a topic. So it may take a little while.
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