TUM Library

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chapter 1: An Introduction to the Notion of Common Sense -- Introductory Story -- It's a Matter of Common Sense -- To Purchase, Or Not to Purchase: Which Option is Common Sense? -- Is the Earth Flat or Round: What Does Common Sense Tell Us? -- Staring at the Sun: Common Sense Tells Us Not to Do It (Even if there is a Rare Eclipse) -- The Study of Common Sense: A Focus on the Everyday Interactions of Individuals -- Popular Culture Box 1: Learning Common Sense from Popular Culture -- Summary -- Chapter 2: Common Sense as a Paradigm of Thought -- Introductory Story -- Paradigms of Thought: How Social Order Should Be Structured -- Tradition -- Tradition: The First Paradigm of Thought -- Ancient Traditions -- Middle Ages Traditions -- Modern Traditions -- Faith -- Faith: The Second Paradigm of Thought -- Religion -- Past Monarchies, Royalty, and the Divine Rights of Kings -- Modern Monarchies -- Enlightened, Rational Thought -- Enlightened, Rational Thought: The Third Paradigm of Thought -- The Age of Enlightenment -- Science and Technology in the Contemporary Era -- The Conservative Reaction to Enlightened, Rational Thought -- Common Sense -- Common Sense: The Fourth Paradigm of Thought -- Popular Culture Box 2: "How Can Scientific Truth Be Hearsay?"Dr. Zira, chimpanzee animal psychologist from the original Planet of the Apes (1968) -- Summary -- Chapter 3: Explaining Common Sense: From the Ancient Greeks to the Early Twentieth Century -- Introductory Story -- Examining Common Sense -- The Ancient Greeks and Modern Philosophy: Common Sense and Skepticism -- Ancient Greek Skepticism -- Modern Philosophy and Skepticism: Rene Descartes and David Hume -- Thomas Reid and Common Sense -- G.E. Moore: Refutation of Skepticism and the Promotion of Common Sense -- Bertrand Russell and Common Sense -- Thomas Paine and Common Sense -- Karl Marx, Conflict Theory and Common Sense -- Max Weber, Rationality and Common Sense -- C. Wright Mills, Situated Actions and Vocabularies of Motives and Common Sense -- Symbolic Interactionism, Social Action and Common Sense -- William James, Pragmatism, Habits, and Consciousness -- Charles Horton Cooley, Symbols, Language, and Social Interaction -- George Herbert Mead, Pragmatism, the Social Act, Gestures, and Language -- Herbert Blumer, Meanings, Language, Gestures, and Social Action -- Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self and Common Sense -- Phenomenology and Common Sense -- Edmund Husserl, The Rudiments of Common Sense -- Alfred Schutz, The Life-World, Stocks of Knowledge and Common Sense -- Peter Berger, The Social Construction of Reality and Common Sense -- Ethnomethodology and the Commonsense World -- Harold Garfinkel, Taken-for-Granted World, Accounts and the Commonsense World -- Popular Culture Box 3: "The Heresy of Heresies was Common Sense"George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four -- Summary -- Chapter 4: Explaining Common Sense: From the Early Twentieth Century to the Postmodern Era -- Introduction -- Contemporary Scholarship in the Study of Common Sense -- Hermeneutic Phenomenology and Common Sense -- Martin Heidegger -- Hans-Georg Gadamer -- Paul Ricoeur -- Cornelius Castoriadis -- Antonio Gramsci and Common Sense -- Jurgen Habermas and Common Sense -- Immanuel Wallerstein and Common Sense -- Anthony Giddens, Structuration Theory and Common Sense -- Randall Collins, Interaction Ritual Chains and Common Sense -- McDonnell, Bail and Tavory, Resonance Theory and Common Sense -- Feminism and Post-feminism and Common Sense -- Postmodernism and Common Sense -- Posthumanism and Transhumanism -- Postcolonialism -- Popular Culture Box 4: Posthumanism and the Rise of Machines -- Summary -- Chapter 5: Learning About and Adhering to Common Sense -- Introductory Story -- Common Sense Is Learned Behavior -- The Socialization Process: A Critical Aspect of Learning About Common Sense -- Primary Groups -- Agents of Socialization -- Cyber Socialization and Social Media -- Observation and Personal Experience -- The Development of Enlightened Rational Thought and Reason -- Social Theoretical Explanations on How We Learn and Common Sense -- Social Learning Theory -- Symbolic Interactionism -- Subcultural Theory -- Anomie/Strain Theory -- Differential Association Theory -- Labeling Theory -- Control/Social Bond Theory -- Adhering to Common Sense -- Common Sense -- Common, Common Sense -- Popular Culture Box 5: "Robots Lack Common Sense, But They Will Shape Future Employment" -- Summary -- Chapter 6: Violating Common Sense: Uncommon Sense -- Introductory Story -- Impediments to Common Sense: -- Failure to Learn -- The Lack of a Formal Higher Education -- Overly Emotional and Irrational Fear -- Believing in Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstitions and Other Oddities -- Ignorance and Stupidity -- People Doing Dumb and Stupid Things: The Award Goes To -- Darwin Awards -- Stella Awards -- Dumb Criminals -- Not Adhering to Common Sense -- Uncommon Sense: It's Bad for Our Health -- Common, Uncommon Sense -- Popular Culture Box 6: "If Seemingly Every Decision You Make in Life Turns Out to Be a Matter of Uncommon Sense, Do the Opposite!" -- Summary -- Chapter 7: Can Common Sense Rise as the Prevailing Paradigm of Thought? -- Introductory Story -- Common Sense in Review -- The Limitations of Common Sense -- Enlightened, Rational Thought Should be the Prevailing Paradigm of Thought -- Popular Culture Box 7: "Testing Your Common Sense" -- Summary.

The notion of common sense and abiding by its implications is something that, seemingly, everyone agrees is a good way of making behavioral decisions and conducting one's daily activities. This holds true whether one is a liberal, moderate, or conservative; young or old; and regardless of one's race and ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. If utilizing common sense is such a good idea, why then, do so many people seem to violate it? This is just one of many significant questions surrounding the idea of common sense explored and discussed in this book. This volume presents common sense as a ‘paradigm of thought’ and as such, compares it to other major categories of thought — tradition, faith, enlightened and rational. Combining a balance of practical, everyday approaches (through the use of popular culture references and featured boxes) and academic analysis of core and conceptual methodological issues, Delaney demonstrates: The limitations of common sense and its place in everyday social interactions How we learn about common sense Why common sense is so important Common Sense as a Paradigm of Thought introduces readers to a rich variety of sociological authors and will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as: sociology, philosophy, social psychology, cultural studies, communications and health studies.

Also available in print format.