Comments on: Compiling List of Common Sense Truisms

Question: Compiling List of Common Sense Truisms

adamrobinson — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:15:45 -0800

I'm trying to compile a comprehensive list of "common sense" truisms, conventional beliefs we take as axiomatic. Does anyone know any sources of truisms, proverbs, maxims and related common sense beliefs? Feel free to contribute such notions from your own domain or area of expertise!

Hey Fellow Metafilterians. I'm compiling a list of common sense notions about the world or about human beings or about situations or whatever. NOT in the form of cliches (like a rolling stone gathers no moss) but that embody our "common sense" view of the world (or people).

Here are some random examples:
* The shortest distance between two lines is a straight point.
* People are motivated by rewards (or punishments).
* The more a product or service costs, the lower the demand for it.
* To lose weight, an organism must consumer fewer calories.

My ultimate purpose is to hold these truisms to the harsh light of a sustained examination and see whether they are actually tenable, and if not when they fail. First, of course, I need to compile them.

Thanks so much!!

By: adamrobinson

adamrobinson — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:17:20 -0800

I meant the shortest distance between two points is a straight line! Duh.

By: timsteil

timsteil — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:20:47 -0800

Poor Richards Almanack perhaps

By: katrielalex

katrielalex — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:22:59 -0800

Maths ones are easy to find. See e.g. Peano's axioms. This sort of question is studied a lot in maths and logic.

By: stubby phillips

stubby phillips — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:24:55 -0800

probably not what you're looking for, but:

there is no such thing as common sense. it's either common or it's sense. it's rarely both.

By: kimota

kimota — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:29:08 -0800

Read on the internet in the early to mid 90s: "Common sense is what tells you the world is flat."

By: YFiB

YFiB — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:45:45 -0800

This may not be exactly what you're looking for, but it is the sweetest website I've found in a while.

By: rhizome

rhizome — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:48:00 -0800

Pedantically, I think you're looking more for aphorisms. Truisms are statements constructed to appear to be true and common sense, but which aren't necessarily true nor common sense.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:54:47 -0800

Is Murphy's Law too cliche?

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:08:13 -0800

Induction is a valid method of reasoning.

By: dolface

dolface — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:45:59 -0800

Jenny Holzer

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:46:02 -0800

To lose weight, an organism must consumer fewer calories [than it expends].

By: stubby phillips

stubby phillips — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:01:16 -0800

consume.

By: stubby phillips

stubby phillips — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:09:57 -0800

(this is not to say that i agree with that truism)

By: Mrs. Pterodactyl

Mrs. Pterodactyl — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:25:23 -0800

The idea that the more expensive something is the lower the demand will be is definitely not true; apocryphally (although this does make sense to me), when some brand of scotch (I think, though it might have been gin) wanted to increase their number of sales, they actually raised the price since if it seemed like cheap booze no one would want it. Increasing the price often increases the perceived benefit rather than lowering demand.

By: Calloused_Foot

Calloused_Foot — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:44:19 -0800

When dealing with unknown quantities, start with the 80/20 rule if you have no idea where else to begin. IE - 20% of the customers generate 80% of the profits, 20% of the people do 80% of the work, etc.

By: Mephisto

Mephisto — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:27:37 -0800

Never eat yellow snow.

By: jrishel

jrishel — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:34:09 -0800

check out the Cyc project... http://www.cyc.com/

By: LittleMissCranky

LittleMissCranky — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:52:00 -0800

Don't fuck with the pancreas.

By: vincele

vincele — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:19:08 -0800

More a cliche than what you're looking for, but in the case of college professors, someone always says:

"I always learn more from the students than I teach them."

I'd like to find whoever said that and stare at them a while.

By: Schmucko

Schmucko — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:18:35 -0800

Minims, the opposite of maxims.

By: Redhush

Redhush — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:00:47 -0800

the meaning of life is that it stops

By: bink

bink — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:14:55 -0800

(Mrs. Pterodactyl, I've heard that story told about Chivas Regal.)

By: ferdydurke

ferdydurke — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:40:53 -0800

An earlier, brilliant example of your project is Flaubert's Dictionary of Commonly Accepted Ideas.

By: like_neon

like_neon — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:53:47 -0800

It's never lupus.

By: wenestvedt

wenestvedt — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:21:24 -0800

How about that book, "The 48 Laws of Power"? It's full of human motivation ideas from all sorts of sources. (A little too orange for me, though.)

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:05:03 -0800

The shortest distance between two lines is a straight point.

Ah ha.