CONSIDER – ASSUMPTIONS. . .

I was introduced to a certain way of thinking critically (see my two previous postings) in 1963; I was a sophomore in college (it is interesting, to me at least, that sophomore means ‘wise fool’ – and I was one). Two professors, a philosopher and a Shakespearean scholar, took the time and helped me begin to learn about and understand what it was to think critically. They introduced me to the concept of ‘assumptions’ and after a few sessions with them I was hooked; I continue to immerse myself in seeking to understand them. My current thinking is that there are three types of assumptions that powerfully impact who we are, how we ‘see’ the world and help determine what actions we choose. So, this morning, gentle reader, I invite us to ‘Consider – Assumptions.’

The most challenging assumptions to uncover and to let go of and replace are what I have come to call ‘Deep Tacit Assumptions.’ These are the tap roots that feed our view of our world. We insist, by the by, that these are not assumptions; we insist they are ‘facts’ and we insist they reveal the ‘truth’ to us. I have learned firsthand – in my own life and as I have had the privilege and opportunity to be a thought-partner to others – that deep tacit assumptions are only examined following a great deal of resistance. It requires a great deal of ‘disconfirming evidence’ if one is going to even begin to accept that an assumption is afoot. We can begin to uncover our deep tacit assumptions by becoming aware of our word choice, our personal metaphors (and the metaphors that others hold that resonate with us), by the questions we ask and pay attention to or dismiss, and by the stories that we tell and that we affirm when others tell their stories. This will take some time and energy as it requires us to see where ‘alignments’ among all of these exist – once we have identified an alignment we are on our way to uncovering – and naming – a deep tacit assumption. Here is an example of a deep tacit assumption: ‘Humans are inherently competitive.’ So, gentle reader, I invite you to take five minutes and generate some words, metaphors, questions, and stories that would be in alignment and hence support this assumption as ‘being true.’

The second type of assumption I call ‘Ought Assumptions.’ These are easier to uncover and name for they are rooted in what we believe ‘ought’ to happen in a given situation. When we say ‘people ought to behave’ in a certain way we are tapping into an ‘Ought Assumption.’ These assumptions, like the third one yet to be named, are rooted in our Deep Tacit Assumptions. For example, I assume that adult learners are ‘self-directed learners’ and hence my teaching methods reflect this assumptions: ‘A true adult learner ought to be a self-motivated learner’ is an example of one of my ‘Ought Assumptions.’

The third type of assumption I call ‘If-Then Assumptions.’ This is a type of cause-effect assumptions; they are the easiest to uncover and name.  These assumptions ‘predict’ what will occur. A variation of this type of assumption is the one rooted in ‘history’ – this happened, the events today appear to be the same so we can assume that ‘this will happen again’ (if we don’t learn from our history we will repeat it). We rely upon the past in order to emerge an ‘If-Then Assumption.’

The power in all three of these is that at times the assumption actually plays out in reality; the trap is to ‘assume’ that this will always be so and then to act as if this is true and to dismiss the times when it is not ‘true’ and name these times as ‘abnormal’ or as ‘aberrations.’

We need assumptions in our lives for without them we would spend inordinate amounts of time and energy trying to figure things out (this, of course, is another assumption). I leave us with this wonderful quote from George Bernard Shaw: What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts.