Uncommon Common Sense from History

History is full of case studies related to evaluation of common sense starting with Hummarabi code to the present day Machine Learning. However, there are some notable cases, which have deep influence on me. 

The earliest documented interrogation into common sense is from Socrates Questioning. One of student, Plato documented this method where his teacher would assume a role of an ignorant mindset, in order to compel the student to assume the highest level of knowledge, through 

1. Acknowledge Contradictions
2. Recreate Inaccurate or unfinished ideas
3. Critically determine necessary thoughts

This interrogative technique leads to following 2 important concepts

1. Basic Knowledge = Fundamental Concepts + Principles + Theory + Issues + Problem 
2. Attaining Knowledge = Systematic + Disciplined + Deep Evaluation

When it comes to common sense, it is hard to miss out on Thomas Paine. He wrote 2 very interesting pamphlets in 1770s - the Common Sense and the American Crisis. Almost all his writings are captivating and as historian Greene once said - "Fundamentally, we are all children of Paine" 

Indeed the late 17th century provided one more important relevance from Benjamin Franklin, who developed - "Balance sheet of Decisions" which is crude form of "Risk Probability Matrix", which we use frequently in consulting.

Common sense has been applied to even most obscure subjects such as sociology, which is one of my favorite subjects. It is really a pleasure to read Emile Durkheim, Mead, Talcot Parson etc and observe how they deduced common sense on complex social interactions. The same concepts have been illustrated in "Art of War" by Sun Tsu in study of warfare, which has deeply influenced the Chinese thought process over the ages.