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Do people know the difference between fact and opinion?

Yeh, perhaps not the best example, but that's what I was getting at. As for the original question, I don't think that most people believe their opinion to be always factual, they would surely have to believe that they have more extensive experiences over anybody else on any topic. I think people have various of degrees of confidence in their opinions dependent on the extent of experiences with the topic, subject etc.
 
Everyone's entitled to my opinion. It's a fact. A fiendish fact.
 
if a 100% agree upon an opinion, does that make it a fact? :eek
 
It makes it a fact that you've agreed upon the opinion.
 
Re: That's what I mean

if a 100% agree upon an opinion, does that make it a fact?
Click to expand...
Not in all cases, but most of what we declare facts today started out as opinions or what science calls theories. When Einstein et al began working on the atom bomb, very much of what they were working on was opinions, which through their work became for a large part uncontestable opinions, aka facts.

Much of what we accept as fact is "in fact" subjective. You might say a banana is yellow for example, but to a colour-blind person it is grey. Since colour is defined by what we see, both "facts" are actually opinions, i.e. "my mind thinks I see yellow".

Hard "facts" such as 1+1=2 are based upon our acceptance of mathematical theory or opinions (i.e. what is "1"?). We accept 1+1 as 2 as fact because we do not contest the theory or opinion of mathematics because we have faith in what we've been taught from grade school, and we have personal experience to verify the theory/opinion.

You can cast your own opinion on my post above (my opinions again, not facts), but that doesn't make it fact. I stick by my definition, a fact is simply an uncontested opinion.
 
Re: That's what I mean

Glad we got that sorted out- next question!
 
So does that mean nonsensical or trivial opinions are facts? If I'm of the opinion that Tuesday is opaque, and no one has ever thought to contest the opacity of days, does that make my opinion a fact?

And then couldn't any statement be contested, even if the challenge is simply to say that one disagrees? Are there standards to be applied to that contestment? Must it be a rational, or even relevant opposition?
 
No, trivial opinions are the opinions of misinformed people.

Somebody said "truth is correctness of opinion."

Anybody know who that was I forget.
 
Ari Fleischer, 2003: "We know for a fact that there are weapons there."

George Herbert Walker Bush, 1988: "I will never apologize for the United States of America! I don't care what the facts are!"

Frank Lloyd Wright: "The truth is more important than the facts."
 
"No, trivial opinions are the opinions of misinformed people."

And who dictates what's trivial? What counts as misinformed? You're presuming objective and non-arbitrary standards of relevance and knowledge.
 
Re: That's what I mean

You can do whatever you want.

As far as the fact that "wood is hard", IMO this is opinion again. Hard compared to what? If you say it is a fact that wood is hard, and I compare it too titanium, I'd say in my opnion wood is soft. Wood, in its powder form or as balsa is quite soft. In fact, this is why we use wood for shock absoption in railway ties, crash barriers, etc, since it's softer than other substances.
Click to expand...

Do whatever I want? Tried levitating. Didn't work. I wanted to do it, too.

As for wood not being "hard," maybe you just didn't hit yourself hard enough. Same with the titanium; it's all in the swing.
 
Re: That's what I mean

"You're presuming objective and non-arbitrary standards of relevance and knowledge."

That's right I am. An objective standard is, not to say anything that is not true. What I suggest is strict standards of proof.

In other words, most questions need to be answered with,

"I don't know -subject to further investigation."

There is no reason to promote anything that is not true.
 
And you still haven't answered my question. What constitutes a strict standard of proof? Who decides whether something is sufficiently justified? You?
 
Sometimes I do.

And sometimes you do. It depends on our respective knowledge, abilities, integrity, etc. etc.

But most important of all, it depends upon our specific experiences. The devil is in the detail.


I think this has been a productive debate which leads me to the following conclusion.

When lawyers do not like the facts, they shop around and purchase a false opinion. Isn't that how our legal system works?
 
Re: Sometimes I do.

The word "fact" is being used in a rather unrestricted or unrestrained manner. What types of "facts" are being made reference to here? Is the word "fact" the appropriate term for the information being sought by the original questioner? There is a very wide range of experiences, explanations and explorations to be had when considering facts or factual information. Philosphers, sociologists and scientists have employed the word in different ways at different times for exploring different phenomena. The broad sweep of this topic has occupied philosophers for the last couple of thousand years.


Anyway, that's my opinion.
 
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