Poll: Can an opinion be wrong?
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The following judgments rely on the concept of there being an absolute truth. If you are a post-modernist sort of person and don't believe in the absolute, I totally respect your disregard of everything that has built the human race up to the position it exists in today (looking at you Serj Tankian).
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/opinion
o·pin·ion
?noun
1.
a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.
2.
a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.
3.
the formal expression of a professional judgment: to ask for a second Medical opinion.
4.
Law . the formal statement by a judge or court of the reasoning and the principles of law used in reaching a decision of a case.
5.
a judgment or estimate of a person or thing with respect to character, merit, etc.: to forfeit someone's good opinion.
6.
a favorable estimate; esteem: I haven't much of an opinion of him.
My Response:
1(a. A judgment can be wrong if it is not appropriate. "Wrong" can = not suitable or appropriate.
(b. A belief can be wrong if it does not reflect established facts. An "opinionated statement" about something based on this belief (e.g. that cat is a dog) can be wrong because it does not reflect facts.
2(a. An attitude can be wrong if it is not socially accepted (e.g. "chinese are a subspecies")
due to harming or insulting a specific group of people and the relationships between groups of people.
(b. An appraisal is an estimate of worth, and can be wrong if true worth is more or less than estimated.
(c. It is harder to say if a way of seeing things is wrong, but if someone comes out and says that "Sarah Palin is the best thing to happen to American politics since the consitution" then he/she would be wrong if Sarah Palin was not actually the best thing to happen to American politics since the constitution.
3(a. A medical diagnosis can be wrong if it is incorrect.
4(a. A judgment of law can be "wrong" if it is morally reprehensible.
5(a. See 2b.
6(a. Also 2b.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/opinion
o·pin·ion
?noun
1.
a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.
2.
a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.
3.
the formal expression of a professional judgment: to ask for a second Medical opinion.
4.
Law . the formal statement by a judge or court of the reasoning and the principles of law used in reaching a decision of a case.
5.
a judgment or estimate of a person or thing with respect to character, merit, etc.: to forfeit someone's good opinion.
6.
a favorable estimate; esteem: I haven't much of an opinion of him.
My Response:
1(a. A judgment can be wrong if it is not appropriate. "Wrong" can = not suitable or appropriate.
(b. A belief can be wrong if it does not reflect established facts. An "opinionated statement" about something based on this belief (e.g. that cat is a dog) can be wrong because it does not reflect facts.
2(a. An attitude can be wrong if it is not socially accepted (e.g. "chinese are a subspecies")
due to harming or insulting a specific group of people and the relationships between groups of people.
(b. An appraisal is an estimate of worth, and can be wrong if true worth is more or less than estimated.
(c. It is harder to say if a way of seeing things is wrong, but if someone comes out and says that "Sarah Palin is the best thing to happen to American politics since the consitution" then he/she would be wrong if Sarah Palin was not actually the best thing to happen to American politics since the constitution.
3(a. A medical diagnosis can be wrong if it is incorrect.
4(a. A judgment of law can be "wrong" if it is morally reprehensible.
5(a. See 2b.
6(a. Also 2b.
The problem is that just because it is not socially accepted does not make an opinion wrong. Gaming was for a long time (and still is in some cases) not socially accepted but that didn't mean that gamers opinion that games are fun/good was a wrong opinion.Johnwesleyharding said:
"True worth" does not exist. Economics itself teaches us that worth is determined by the individual person; if someone is willing to pay a certain price for something, than it is worth it to them. Perfect example, I don't consider a bunch of funnily shaped rubber bands to be worth $5.99, but there are a bunch of kids in the store I work at that think quite differently.Johnwesleyharding said:
People themselves are worth only about 15/17 cents (males and females, respectively) based on the minerals in our bodies, but most people feel that a human life is worth far more than that.
Okay, but again, who are you to say what is "best" or "worst" to someone else? If they feel that her viewpoints moved the country in the direction they wanted, then they are completely justified in their point of view.Johnwesleyharding said:
So no, it is truly impossible for an opinion to be wrong. "Wrong" is an objective judgment while opinions are subjective viewpoints and you cannot place an objective judgment on a subjective viewpoint. The objective and subjective just don't mix very well.
Inabsolute wrongs.
Now talking about absolute wrongs.
This is true in many cases, especially with subjective adjectival descriptives, such a "cloudy" and "clear" -- when it comes to the sky. However, an opinion can be wrong when it is concerned with the objective. For instance, see my previous post, where I gave the example of the state ment "that cat is a dog". This is a declarative statement, however it is also an opinion. The statement is incorrect because it ignores the original intention of naming animals -- to distinguish them from another. The name given to cats and dogs is widely accepted by most people. If someone ignores this widespread acceptance, in accordance with one of the many definitions of "wrong" -- "not proper or usual; not in accordance with requirements or recommended practice", their statement is wrong.Apocalypse Tank said:
Now talking about absolute wrongs.
IMO by stating that the majority or minority can be "right" your argument has been damaged. You have damged your argument by applying the terms "right", and thus by extension of this "wrong", to opinions, which you have previously described to opinions as innapplicable, but I don't like arguing over semantics. This comment concedes that it is possible for some opinions to be more correct than others. Since opinions can contain many complex truths and non-truths, this relativity means that it is possible, although unlikely, for an opinion to contain exclusively non-truths. Just a though though.Apocalypse Tank said:
There's no such thing as an opinion that isn't wrong. If you have all the facts, then what you know is just fact, not opinion. The point of having an opinion is to make up your mind without all the facts. Having an opinion is admitting that you're wrong. Anyway, opinions are like assholes - just full of shit.
It can't be wrong. It's an opinion, not a fact. It CAN however, be extremely unpopular to the point where anyone in their right mind would think it's wrong.
An opinion requires no fact in order to be stated, therefore it cannot be disputed for there is no fact to dispute! You CAN weaken someone's opinion's standing by disputing the lack of facts, or the facts themselves should they be provided, but in a base as of itself, an opinion cannot be necessarily "Wrong".
An opinion is a thought, put into words by the mind. Unlike a fact, such as 2+2=4, it has no legitimate basis, and is simply a thought thrown out to the world. A fact can only be taken 2 ways, either accepted or disputed. An opinion, however, can be accepted, tolerated, disputed, ignored, reversed, worshiped and mocked.
But don't take my words without some salt, they are just my opinions after all.
An opinion is a thought, put into words by the mind. Unlike a fact, such as 2+2=4, it has no legitimate basis, and is simply a thought thrown out to the world. A fact can only be taken 2 ways, either accepted or disputed. An opinion, however, can be accepted, tolerated, disputed, ignored, reversed, worshiped and mocked.
But don't take my words without some salt, they are just my opinions after all.
There ya go. I think that's more or less what everyone's trying to explain to the people saying "yes". There's a difference between beliefs and opinions.TK421 said:
The concept of "wrong" used outside pure logic is archaic. Opinions aren't subject to validity, nor veracity - thus they are exempt from needing justification or affirmation in terms of factual correctness. They have no relevance to anyone but yourself.
Having an opinion that about something that can empirically be proven true is arguably a different case, but then it's no longer an opinion, it's a factual statement. Opinion and truth ("truth" as in an empirically verifiable condition) are mutually exclusive.
Having an opinion that about something that can empirically be proven true is arguably a different case, but then it's no longer an opinion, it's a factual statement. Opinion and truth ("truth" as in an empirically verifiable condition) are mutually exclusive.
If there are no clouds in the sky and someone says it's cloudy. They are WRONG. Thus, there opinion of the sky is wrong.Apocalypse Tank said:
i was going to say this, but the point i was going to make was that there is a black president at the moment. Guess that ends this argument.Furious Styles said:
opinions can certainly be wrong, most often when a statement is made about something involving finite and involving fact.
One of the guys out of the BNP; dont recall his name as he just isn't worth my time, has the opinion that the holocaust doesn't even exist, never happened, load of twollop. It is beyond the realms of possibility that he could be right. So much says it happened, so many photo's so many written accounts from both sides, experience of people who went through it.
So inline with what the OP said, opinions can be proven wrong.
Opinions can't be wrong. Beliefs, however, can be, and there's a lot of people who confuse the two.