This page is an English translation of the original Italian article. The original publication date and historical context have been preserved.
In diving, I often hear people appeal to “common sense”. It sounds reassuring: each of us promises to act sensibly and avoid unnecessary danger.
Yet when I hear those words, I become more alert rather than less. Common sense is an individual ability to judge a situation and choose what seems practical or correct. The problem is precisely that it is individual.
Ask who lacks common sense and almost nobody will identify themselves. Everyone believes their own judgement is reasonable, even when another person sees the same decision as reckless.
Anyone who has tried to solve an underwater problem has acted according to some internal logic. Even a diver who makes the situation worse may believe, at that moment, that the chosen action is the best available response.
The standard of “common sense” therefore rises and falls from one person to another. A person may be offering the best judgement they possess, while that judgement remains insufficient for the situation.
There may be no perfect solution, but one useful step is to involve somebody else—normally the buddy—and move from personal “common sense” towards shared consensus.
When there is no time to discuss, preparation becomes decisive. Experience, quality training, conservative choices and respect for established limits raise the standard of the decisions we are capable of making.
My view is that training is the real key to improving what we casually call common sense.
