Introduction

Farmers would voice their frustration over the Common Agricultural Policy by complaining of bureaucrats with no common sense. Conservationists would self-effacingly talk of using reedbeds for flood-mitigation schemes as “simple common sense”. As common sense plays a fundamental role in how English people engage with and make sense of their environment, understanding it has significant implications – particularly for rural industries and environmental policy. As opposed to an enclosed landscape of siloed, possessive individuals, the common is a shared, open landscape, in which reasonable individuals use common sense to discover and maintain common ground. Academics frequently define common sense either in terms of the universal human capacity for reason, or as a simple expression for received wisdom. Land managers make recourse to common sense on a daily basis, to discuss the extent, substance, and limits of proper, effective behaviour. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.