The Illusion of Common Sense: How Culture Shapes What We Think Is Obvious
- SaY India
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
They say some things are just common sense.
But pause for a moment and ask yourself:
Common to whom?
In which language?
From whose point of view?
What you call instinct, someone else might call strange.
What feels obvious to you might feel alien to another.
The very things we never question—the ones we do without thinking—are often the most deeply cultural.
In one part of the world, it’s “common sense” to take your shoes off before entering a home.
In another, it’s “common sense” to keep them on unless explicitly told otherwise.
In some cultures, speaking loudly in public is rude.
In others, silence is uncomfortable and suggests disinterest or rudeness.
What is labeled as “normal,” “logical,” or “just how things are” is rarely universal.
In truth, common sense is the echo of unspoken agreements, unwritten codes, and invisible rituals handed down by ancestors—shaped by geography, religion, survival, power, and philosophy.
🌱 Common Sense is Not Common—It’s Inherited
From the way we greet each other to how we grieve, love, raise children, cook meals, or mourn the dead—every act we think of as “natural” is really cultural.
Even time itself—how we experience it, organize it, and honor it—is a construct filtered through cultural lenses.
Some cultures view time as linear. Others see it as circular.
Some raise children to speak only when spoken to. Others encourage early expression.
Some value self-reliance. Others, collective harmony.
When we say “use your common sense,” what we often mean is: “Do what I have been conditioned to believe is right.”
🔍 The Philosophical Danger of “Common Sense”
Herein lies the philosophical dilemma:
When we mistake cultural conditioning for universal truth, we begin to judge rather than understand.
We risk moralizing difference instead of seeing it as a mirror reflecting another way of being.
The real danger of “common sense” lies in how it can harden into prejudice.
It makes us believe that those who don’t share our customs are irrational, uncivilized, or even immoral.
But the wise pause.
The philosopher listens.
The seeker asks—not, “Why would they do that?” but, “What truth lives behind this choice?”
🧭 A Call for Cultural Humility
What the world needs now is not more certainty, but more curiosity.
More cultural humility. More willingness to sit with the unknown.
To ask: What if my “common sense” is someone else’s confusion—and that’s okay?
What if there is wisdom in the practices I’ve never experienced, grace in the rituals I don’t yet understand?
Cultural diversity is not just about food, dress, or language.
It is a kaleidoscope of assumptions—a living reminder that human truth is not singular, but plural.
💬 A Question For You
So I ask you, gently:
What’s something you’ve always done a certain way, simply because “that’s how it’s done”?
When did you first realize that it might not be common—or make sense—outside your cultural lens?
Was it a ritual? A habit? A belief about family, work, love, or respect?
I would love to hear your story.
👇 Share in the comments below. Let’s rediscover the quiet philosophies that shape our lives—and the invisible teachings we carry in our bones.