What’s Obvious Tells Many a Lie

That makes sense to me, but then our 3-year-old grandchild shows me a drawing she’s worked on for an hour, and I blurt out, “It’ s beautiful!” rather than, “You worked so hard on it!” I feel a little bad doing that, but I mark it up as a consequence of being held between two contradictory examples of obviousness.

Now let’s imagine that praising effort becomes the new obvious, so if you are overheard telling your child that she’s “so funny,” it will sound like you were paying them money for making a joke. But then your granddaughter turns 3 and starts composing really good music on a keyboard. (Look up Jacob Collier if you want a current example.) In that particular circumstance, would it be OK to let her know not only that she tries hard, but also that she has a gift? At what point does obviousness get in the way of responding appropriately in the cases of exceptions? After all, much of the power of the obvious comes from its being applied so broadly.

Founding Paradigms

All of this transposes into everyday life what Thomas Kuhn’s 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions says about the role of founding paradigms in science. Kuhn’s point is that science proceeds based on a framework that is the current accepted paradigm. When enough anomalies— glitches—are encountered, the paradigm is ready for a shift that changes the obvious assumptions and practices.

Our everyday “obviousnesses” may not have the rigor and precision of scientific paradigms, but they do serve as the unquestioned grounds of all other everyday knowledge. That they hide possibilities that we don’t need to consider is a feature, not a bug. Until they become a bug. But we’re never going to be free of the obvious, for it’s the hidden that enables us to walk in the light.