Doxa
Etymology
Greek "doxa" meant opinion, appearance, or repute, and Plato ranked it below "episteme," true knowledge. The root reappears in "orthodoxy" (right belief), "paradox" (against belief), "heterodoxy," and "doxology," words of praise.
noun · /DOK-suh/
Common opinion or accepted belief, as distinct from tested knowledge.
What it names
The taken-for-granted assumptions a group shares before anyone thinks to examine them.
Example
What counts as a "serious" novel is largely doxa — a consensus the literary world mistakes for a law of nature.
Related idea
The hidden root inside orthodoxy and paradox; doxa is the belief everyone holds until someone tests it into knowledge.