Dr. Taylor tells us:

In my last post, I argued that common sense was vastly over-rated as a tool for making sound judgments and that we need to engage in “reasoned sense” that includes both extensive direct experience and critical thinking. Taking steps that include the informal use of the scientific method can help us make better decisions.

However, as recent research has demonstrated, even scientists who strictly adhere to the scientific method can’t guarantee that they will draw the best possible conclusions. When I read this research my first thought was, “How could such highly educated and precisely trained professionals veer off the path of objectivity?” The answer is simple: They, like all of us, possess one quality from which it is impossible to divorce themselves. That quality? Being human.

As the fields of psychology and behavioral economics have demonstrated, homo sapiens is a seemingly irrational species that appears to, more often than not, think and behave in nonsensical rather than commonsensical ways. The reason is that we fall victim to a veritable laundry list of cognitive biases that cause us to engage in distorted, imprecise, and incomplete thinking which, not surprisingly, results in “perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, or illogical interpretation” (thanks Wikipedia), and, by extension, poor and sometimes catastrophic decisions. http://drjimtaylor.com/blog/2011/07/...sense-neither/

Taylor proceeds to discuss some of the most widespread cognitive biases that contaminate our ability to use common sense. What I find interesting is how on the one hand Dr. Taylor states that common sense is neither common nor sense; on the other, he talks about the biases that impede our ability to use this same common sense.

Dr. Taylor gets me thinking. What do you think?