Talk:Conventional wisdom
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[edit] Suggestions for improving this article
Probably should add information about CW as used by political commentators as a way of showing "which way the political wind is blowing." Numerous magazines and newspapers use CW as a political barometer. Newsweek magazine probably has the most well-known CW listings very week in their publication.
I disagree with the sentence, "The term is only rarely used positively." I am not convinced this is true, as in the case of how political commentators use the term -- in that context, it's usually equally positive & negative. Suggest re-write.
Kevyn 10:51, 28 Jul 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Comments by anon
I found an insightful definition from the book, Freakonomics pages 89-90: It was John Kenneth Galbraith, the hyperliterate economic sage, who coined the phrase "conventional wisdom." He did not consider it a compliment. "We associate truth with convenience," he wrote, "with what most closely accords with self-interest and personal well-being, or promises best to avoid awkward effort or unwelcome dislocation of life. We also find highly acceptable what contributes most to self-esteem." Economic and social behavior, Galbraith continued, "are complex, and to comprehend their character is mentally tiring. Therefore we adhere, as though to a raft, to those ideas which represent our understanding."
Copyright information: http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN006073132X&id=LkQPOSXMUscC&dq=%22Conventional+wisdom%22+%22John+Kenneth+Galbraith%22&pg=PR4&printsec=3&lpg=PR4&sig=_4iWBUQAqe7xFCojIf00P1_bFQI
From the study guide for Freakonomics (http://www.freakonomics.com/pdf/StudentFREAKONOMICS.pdf): One of the themes of this book is that the conventional wisdom is often wrong. In this chapter, Levitt and Dubner quote from the economist and diplomat John Kenneth Galbraith, who asserts that social behavior is complex and “to comprehend [its] character is mentally tiring.” So, according to Galbraith, conventional wisdom must be simple, convenient, comfortable and comforting, though not necessarily true. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.134.211.1 (talk • contribs).
[edit] On the self-referentiality of the article
The phrase "conventional wisdom" has existed in English since at least 1888, when it appeared in the novel April Hopes, by William Dean Howells, in the following sentence: "She made little remarks full of conventional wisdom, and appealed to his judgment on several points as they drove along." The term "conventional wisdom" appeared in many other books, some relating to economics, prior to the publication of the book in which Galbraith is widely claimed to have coined it, The Affluent Society, in 1958.
Unfortunately, this finding is original research and therefore cannot be included in the Wikipedia article. The factoid that Galbraith "coined the term" must stand until a Wikipedia editor finds a reliable source that maintains that he did not. This original research was done on a skeptical hunch, not from a neutral point of view, in other words, and used Google Book Search to access the primary sources, rather than searching only secondary sources for opinions on the historical fact in question.
Also, to quote Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia policy, as quoted in the article Wikipedia:No original research
"If a viewpoint is held by an extremely small (or vastly limited) minority, it doesn't belong in Wikipedia (except perhaps in some ancillary article) regardless of whether it's true or not; and regardless of whether you can prove it or not."
It is most unfortunate that Wikipedia does not print a disclaimer on each of its pages that would state: "The information presented on this page is conventional wisdom that may not be edited to correct it, no matter what evidence or reason, except to reflect the current state of conventional wisdom."
What the disclaimer linked from each page does state in regard to this problem is in the last sentence of its main section:
"WIKIPEDIA MAKES NO GUARANTEE OF VALIDITY
"Wikipedia is an online open-content collaborative encyclopedia, that is, a voluntary association of individuals and groups who are developing a common resource of human knowledge. The structure of the project allows anyone with an Internet connection and World Wide Web browser to alter its content. Please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by professionals with the expertise required to provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information.
"That is not to say that you will not find valuable and accurate information in Wikipedia; much of the time you will. However, Wikipedia cannot guarantee the validity of the information found here. The content of any given article may recently have been changed, vandalized or altered by someone whose opinion does not correspond with the state of knowledge in the relevant fields."
There is barely an implication there that "the state of knowledge in the relevant fields" is in fact the highest standard of validity that Wikipedia recognizes.
However, Google Book Search is recommended as a way of determining whether terms are in common use before writing articles on them. So maybe if the original author of this article had consulted it, the lead sentence could have been written "Conventional wisdom is a term widely believed to have been coined by the economist John Kenneth Galbraith in The Affluent Society, [and is] used to describe certain ideas or explanations that are generally accepted as true by the public." Still, references to earlier use of the term would constitute original research and be prohibited. Excessive influence on the original article by later editors following original research and attempting to promote a view discovered thereby would also be against Wikipedia policy in spirit.
On the other hand, the expression "widely believed" is redundant to every statement of fact in Wikipedia, and should be omitted as superfluous verbiage, having only the effect of tiring the eyes, once Wikipedia policy is understood. An exception might be made in cases of articles defining the very terms and concepts in which Wikipedia policy is to be understood.
The lead sentence as amended by the expression "widely believed" does not conform to my standards of truthfulness in expression, since it is simply deceptive to know something for a fact and to promote the opposite by coyly stating it is "widely believed" (especially in an apparent encyclopedia article of fact.) But that is the best that can be done within Wikipedia policy. Therefore, I am logically compelled not to attempt to contribute any more to Wikipedia than this present note, in order to maintain my standards.
Sonny Moonie 08:25, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
