COMMON SENSE IN PHILOSOPHICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE
What is Common sense?
Is common sense is really “common to all
people”?
Does common sense varies in
every individual?
Is common sense
taught in school?
Common Sense
Philosophical Scientific
Modern Management Theory
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVEPLATO. he distance philosophers from the common
people, and to differentiate true scientific knowledge (epistêmê) from the misguided and murky opinion (doxa) of the multitude
At the same time, however, he advanced the notion that knowledge of absolute truths is in some sense innate, although requiring dialectical reasoning to be brought to light – there is thus an intuitive aspect to knowing.
“Intuitive aspect to knowing” can be “Common Sense”
Herbert of Cherbury & Rene Descartes – a new traditon of philosophical thinking emerged in the early modern period that began to assess the role played by “first principles” of common sense in our intellectual and social life.
SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVEAristotle Science for Aristotle was an activity of moving
from the “givens” of sense of experience, through inductive observations of particulars, to the general causal connections that bind everything together into one system of nature.
Kepler, Galileo, Boyle, Newton and BaconModern science was founded in part on
a distrust of ordinary sense experience and “appearances” in favor of corpuscular, idealized and mathematical truths. The world of everyday exp. needed to be re examined, tested, transcended, put on the rack and reduced to invisible forces and minute particles in order to be understood.
Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, and Hume An entirely mechanistic view of human nature (we
are simply machines that can think) and the world (everything is composed of matter in motion) began to be developed, while our ability to know that world with any kind of intuitive certainty was also under attack by the rising current of modern skepticism.
JOHN LOCKEArgue that there are no innate moral rules or principles, since customs varied widely among people and “have remorse in one place for doing or omitting that which other,. in other place. Locke emphasize on the diversity of moral beliefs, and his efforts to disprove the existence of innate moral ideas or principles implanted by God
Thomas Reid – 1770-96A Scottish Philosopher
“All reasoning must be grounded on first principles. This holds in moral reasoning, as in all other kinds. There must be therefore be in morals, as in all other sciences, first or self evident principles, on which all moral reasoning is grounded, an on which it ultimately rests. ”
Reid carefully investigated the five senses, concluding that in their basic functions they give to the world to us.
According to Thomas Reid:“Natural Signs”- it is
filled and we are equipped by nature to
Read initially “”Original
Perceptions”-existence and primary qualities of
bodies
“Acquired Perceptions”- laws of
nature
“Principles of Common Sense”- original and natural
perception
Natural Language- gestures and facial expressions
CAUSALITY- a crucial principle, the intuitive conviction that observed events are often casually connected.
“Inductive principle”- science and common
life,.
“Moral principles”- “moral sense, moral intuitions”. The sense of right and wrong in conduct personal intention, responsibility, duty, honesty, justice and moral obligation.
COMMON SENSE AND MANAGEMENT THEORY
CHESTER BARNARD (1938)
Rationality
Intuition
Good Managerial
Decision
Making
Rationality is the habit of acting by reason, which means in accordance with the facts of reality.
Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without inference (act or process of deriving logical conclusions) and/or the use of reason.
Manager without intuition
Manager without rationality
Manager with both rationality and Intuition
SIMON (1987)
Argued that managers draw on
both analysis and intuition in
responding quickly to problems
and situations: ―It is a fallacy to
contrast analytic’ and intuitive’
styles of management.
SIMON (1987)
Managerial Decision Making
In order to respond quickly to circumstances, managers need to cultivate intuition and judgment over many years of training and experience.
BENNETT (1998)
He notes that there is widespread
agreement among researchers that
both analytical and intuitive
processing are necessary components
of the decision-making process, and
that intuitive leaps are often part of a
successful decision.
PATTON (2003)
similarly advocates a balance between intuition and logic in decision-making, intuition understood as pattern recognition based on experience and learning that is especially useful in complex situations that require instantaneous actions or behaviors.
This understanding of intuition is very close to what normally gets referred to in the management literature as common sense, and the two are at times explicitly linked
NITECKI (1987)
Similarly sees common sense as a potential hindrance to sound managerial thinking and problem-solving.
He conflates (combine) the two basic understandings of common sense (intuitive principles of mind vs. common understandings), and critiques it for being the fount (source) of conventional wisdom and the status quo (Current situation).
Common Sense
Alone
Managers fails because:1. Incorrectly identifying solutions to
problems2. Unable to effectively plan organize.
Shows up as getting bogged down with details so that overall planning or organizing isn’t done
3. Inflexibility. Will not listen to others. Is completely self-centered
4. Failing to think in terms of the entire organizational situation. Doesn’t see the bigger picture. Shows up as being unwilling to cooperate with other departments or managers.
if we understand common sense as basic truths
or principles intuitively perceived by the mind
(whether ingrained via experience or implanted
by nature), there continues to be much interest
in it as an important element in management
theory, practice, and organizational learning
once we clarify just what we mean by common
sense, and deepen our understanding of its
intuitive and ―hard-wired‖ dimensions, it
becomes easier to assess both the positive role
and limitations of common sense in managerial
decision-making.
Prepared by: Ambos, Joge christipher Lapeña, Eleanor d. Rivera, Ariel Reginald S. Sadangsal, Kristine Joy V
References: Common Sense in Philosophical and
Scientific Perspectivehttp://www.cnu.edu/leadershipstudies/faculty/Redekop_Common_Sense_Author_Preprint.pdf.