It's my opinion.

[CosmicJoghurt]

Greetings.

I've been thinking about this subject for a long time, now I've decided to create a thread on it. Yes. That's what I do here. Spit out my thoughts. That's how ridiculous I am. Now, shall we?


When one thinks about opinion, subjectivity comes in mind. That's obvious, since opinion requires subjectivity.
When someone says you should value other people's opinions, you usually accept them. I recently had a case like this, and it got me thinking.

Are opinions personal beliefs on a particular subject or just different interpretations of observations regarding what only has one true answer, if any?

In other words, is an opinion a view that can be regarded as subjectively true or a view that is to be verified in an attempt at reaching a correct answer?

One could argue that this wouldn't make any difference in effect, but, really, I think it would. As an atheist, I must think: is there a way of interpreting the evidence objectively and claim my "opinion" as that or can we have different interpretations of it and accept all of them as subjective truths?

Because if an opinion is entirely subjective and is true in that sense, then, I must admit, it is almost meaningless.


Any idea?



Cheers!

 

[ImprobableJoe]

I think people often confuse opinion with what they would like to be true but is unsupported by evidence or even contradicted by evidence. "I think key lime pie is better than pumpkin pie" is an opinion, one that I happen to hold. "I think the evidence for the existence of gods isn't worth sour owl poop" is also an opinion, but one based on facts. "The earth is between 4000 and 10,000 years old" is not an opinion, it is factually wrong.

You run into it with politics too, when one side chooses an ideological position that is contradicted by facts, like "tax cuts raise government revenue"... and they deride the evidence against them as "just an opinion". What's the saying? You are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. Something like that, and people confuse that all the time.

 

[obsidianavenger]

opinions are basically judgements individuals make regarding various subjects by using the information they have. i think, as joe was implying, that it depends on the subject matter of the opinion whether or not opinions can be wrong or not, or whether people are "entitled" to them in such a way as to not be contradicted/challenged.

as an example... my friend loves whiskey. i think he's totally insane for it, but in that case i can't tell him that his opinion is wrong, just that i don't share it. if, on the other hand, he claimed to love homeopathy because of how well it worked, then i could not only call his opinion wrong, but i could fairly easily demonstrate the fact.

i don't think you can group all opinions onto the same side of the subjective/objective divide.

 

[CosmicJoghurt]

opinions are basically judgements individuals make regarding various subjects by using the information they have. i think, as joe was implying, that it depends on the subject matter of the opinion whether or not opinions can be wrong or not, or whether people are "entitled" to them in such a way as to not be contradicted/challenged.

as an example... my friend loves whiskey. i think he's totally insane for it, but in that case i can't tell him that his opinion is wrong, just that i don't share it. if, on the other hand, he claimed to love homeopathy because of how well it worked, then i could not only call his opinion wrong, but i could fairly easily demonstrate the fact.

i don't think you can group all opinions onto the same side of the subjective/objective divide.

Are you sure you can call "I love whisky" an opinion? I would rather call it a preference, not an opinion. Now "whisky is awesome" would be regarded as an opinion, but this is where my question comes in, is it valid? I guess you're both right, it depends on the context... But it seems to me we should have a universal meaning for the word "opinion", not a dynamic one, that's why I've proposed the question...

 

[Prolescum]

Expressing opinions on what an opinion is is recursive and therefore ultimately futile.

 

[CosmicJoghurt]

Expressing opinions on what an opinion is is recursive and therefore ultimately futile.

I'm sorry, but who's doing that? Not me, I'm asking for an explanation on what it really is.

 

[Prolescum]

Expressing opinions on what an opinion is is recursive and therefore ultimately futile.

I'm sorry, but who's doing that? Not me, I'm asking for an explanation on what it really is.

What do you think?

But regardless, it was a joke. It almost always is.

 

[CosmicJoghurt]

But regardless, it was a joke. It almost always is.

Damn me and my confusing English. I meant something like "Any help?", or "can anyone give me an explanation", or something along those lines... edited!