When new ideas are in accord with what we already believe, they are more readily accepted. Whether it feels right is usually a reflection of the world view and ideologies we have internalised, and that frame how we interact with new ideas. When we say to each other "that sounds right", or "I like the sound of that", we are generally not testing someone's argument for validity and soundness as much as seeing if we simply like their conclusion. Worse than this, we all think we're the exemplar of the rational person (go on, admit it) and, if only everyone could see the world as clearly as we do, then all would be well. We might complain of having a poor memory, or of being no good at maths, but no one thinks they are irrational. It's an interesting phenomenon that no one laments his or her lack of rationality. Whatever it is, we might understand it better by considering a few things about our psychology. It seems the greater the rejection of climate science, the greater the reliance on common sense as a guiding principle.įormer prime minister Tony Abbott also appealed to "common sense" when arguing against gay marriage recently.īut what do we mean by an appeal to common sense? Presumably it's an appeal to rationality of some sort, perhaps a rationality that forms the basis of more complex reasoning.
And nearly one in five (18.9%) said it was "common sense" that climate change was happening and it was human-induced. Interestingly, the same study found one in four (25.5%) cited "common sense" for their belief that climate change was happening, but was natural.
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