In a message dated 12/12/2008 3:44:39 PM Pacific Standard Time, snowspinner@gmail.com writes:

Which is part of the problem. There's a lot of stuff that, in academia, we just consider too obvious to publish.>>

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We already handle "Is the Sun hot?" Our policy allows common sense statements. You go from black-and-white to gray at some point, but the point is not "Was Jane Austen a famous writer in her day?" but rather "Was Jane Austen *the* most famous writer in her day?"

Everyone who has any feeling in the field can agree with the first statement, some of them may even agree with the second.

That's what you *get* in humanities. Probabilities and approximations and gray areas.

We are allowed to make common sense statements without the need for a source whatsoever.

The sun is yellow-ish, lizards have tongues, and shoes eventually wear out. It's already policy.

Will Johnson

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