[DRAFT] Common Sense as a Rhetorical Device

When used as a rhetorical device, “common sense” serves as a tautological justification. Importantly, I reject the oft-deployed counter-arguments, “common sense isn't common,” or, “everyone who isn't me lacks it.” Rather, I argue that appealing to common sense is inherently a tactic wholly devoid of substance, much like appeals to so-called “biotruths”. Invoking common sense is nothing more than a thought-terminating cliche.

I loathe “common sense” as a justification for anything. Typically, the response I receive to that statement is, “good point, common sense isn't common.” I have almost as much distaste for that particular attitude—it's condescending, it's unproductive, and it completely misses my point. It's not that I believe common sense is some mythical lost element, but rather that it is deployed as a tautological explanation, something that need not be explained further.