Definition
Received wisdom is the set of beliefs a person accepts simply because they are widely and authoritatively repeated. It is knowledge taken on trust — not because the holder has examined the evidence, but because everyone seems to agree and respected sources keep saying it.
The phrase carries a quiet warning. Calling a belief received wisdom flags that its authority rests on consensus and repetition rather than on demonstration. Sometimes the consensus is correct; the point is that the belief has not earned its place through scrutiny, and therefore has not been tested.
Why it matters
How it works
Received wisdom takes hold through two reinforcing signals: how often a claim is heard, and how authoritative its sources sound. Both signals measure social agreement, and neither measures truth. Once a belief is widely shared it becomes self-confirming — its very ubiquity is taken as evidence, and questioning it feels eccentric.
The skeptical move is to notice when a belief is being held only because it is commonly held, and to treat that as a prompt for verification rather than a substitute for it. The Book of Common Fallacies works by doing exactly this, again and again, to claims that had gone unquestioned for generations.