A convention is a set of rules, standards, or social practices that people agree upon, often forming a custom. In the physical sciences, numerical values such as constants, quantities, or measurement scales are considered conventional when they do not reflect a natural property measured from the environment. Instead, these values come from agreements among scientists, such as averages calculated from many measurements.

General

A convention is a choice between different options, agreed upon by people involved. It often refers to unwritten customs that people in a group follow. For example, in many societies, it is a convention for strangers meeting for the first time to shake hands. Some conventions are written into laws. In the United States and Germany, for example, it is conventional for drivers to stay on the right side of the road, while in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Nepal, India, and the United Kingdom, drivers stay on the left. The way time is divided into hours and days is also a human convention based on the movement of the sun. Historically, philosophers have debated whether justice is a convention (something agreed upon) or if it is natural or objective.

The nature of conventions has led to long discussions among philosophers. Scholars like Quine, Davidson, and David Lewis wrote important works about conventions. Lewis’s ideas were later criticized in a book called On Social Facts (1989) by Margaret Gilbert, who offered a different explanation. Another view was presented in Language: A Biological Model (2005) by Ruth Millikan, who also disagreed with Lewis.

According to David Kalupahana, the Buddha taught that conventions—such as language, social rules, politics, morality, or religion—depend on specific conditions. If people treat conventions as if they are absolute truths, it can lead to rigid beliefs, which may cause conflict. However, the Buddha did not suggest ignoring conventions completely. Instead, he taught that wise people find a balance: they do not see conventions as the only truth, but they also do not ignore them when they are helpful.

Customary or social conventions

In sociology, a social rule is a common way of acting or behaving that people in a society usually follow. These rules are not written in laws or made official. Some sociologists focus a lot on social rules, especially those who study how society creates and shapes rules. They believe these rules are made by people in society and affect everyone, but they are also changed and kept alive by individuals.

Sociologists who study how people interact believe that social rules are made through people talking and working together. This way of looking at rules shows that they can change and are not always the same. These rules depend on the social situation, which can be different in various times and places. This means that a rule that was accepted in the past might not be accepted now. Also, rules can be different in different societies: something that is okay in one place might not be okay in another.

Social rules show what is considered normal or acceptable behavior in a situation. The idea of "discourse," from Michel Foucault, is closely connected to social rules because it explains how these rules are created and change. Social rules help people understand what is normal behavior for certain groups. For example, they tell a woman how to act in a way that is seen as feminine and a man how to act in a way that is seen as masculine. Other rules include:

Government

In government, a convention is a group of unwritten rules that people involved in government must follow. These rules can only be broken if there is a clear reason or explanation. If not, there are consequences. These consequences might involve breaking another rule that was previously followed. According to a traditional idea (Dicey), conventions cannot be used in court because they are not laws. Conventions are especially important in the Westminster System of government, where many rules are not written down.