The need for good sense …

… RealClearReligion - G.K. Chesterton vs. Conspiracy Theorists.

Duhem did not invent this concept of good sense. The 17th century mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal once distinguished between l'esprit de géométrie (the geometrical mind) and l'esprit de finesse (the subtle or keen mind). The former is a rational faculty necessary for logic and geometry. By contrast, l'esprit de finesse, though rational, requires something more: a subtleness or nimbleness of thought. Duhem's idea was that this rational je ne sais quoi is a necessary part of scientific inquiry.