Poll: Can opinions be wrong?

[silver wolf009]

Yes if the facts that back it are wrong.

 

[MalevolentJim]

It is my opinion that the moon is made of cheese.You can tell me I'm wrong but all I can say back is "ITS MAH OPINION *****!" and you can't do anything about it.This is why I find that Opinions are very overrated phenomenons.

 

[Woodsey]

If i where to say that in my opinion, opinions can be wrong. Would that itself be right or wrong?

By that i mean that if the statement is proven true, then would that then make it false. And visa versa.

Well my point was that it depends on what you're giving an opinion on. If it's purely a subjective topic of whether you like something then it can be neither. You saying your opinion on is one of those.

If it was an opinion based on an incorrect "fact" then I'd argue that an opinion can be wrong.

 

[Jenny Creed]

We have two different states here, True and False. Let's call them A and B respectively, and add two opinions.

Opinion X: A =/= B
Opinion Y: A = B

If X = A, then Y = B
If Y = A, then X = B
If X = B, then Y = A
If Y = B, then X = A

X =/= Y under any circumstance. It's impossible for both to be true.

Or as several people in the thread has put it, my opinion is that my opinion can be wrong. If this is right, then opinions can be wrong. If it's wrong, then opinions can be wrong.

Calling a false statement an opinion doesn't make it one. If someone says "In my opinion bacon is made from turtles" their opinion is not wrong because there is no opinion. It's a statement, and that statement is wrong.

In my opinion a given statement is an opinion if it is the speaker's opinion that it is his or her opinion. Or would that be wrong?

 

[DeathsHands]

An opinion can be wrong on the pretense that it's based on a false fact (but the opinion itself can't be wrong, only false, obviously). Already plenty of examples.

 

[daemon37]

Based on your post, I agree. Opinions based on false information are indeed wrong. Also, opinions based on nothing are pointless. "Correct" opinions are ones that state your feeling about an issue and explain why you feel that way. Here's an example of my thinking:

Pointless Opinion: I hate the British.
Wrong Opinion: I hate the British because they invented anime.
Correct Opinion: I hate the British because they drink tea.

 

[Lord George]

Sure thay can. For instance: "It is my opinion that homeopathy is the best cure for diseases." It doesn't cure anyone, so clearly it isn't the best cure for diseases. Your opinion's wrong.

No its not, they can still hold whatever opinion they want, its simply your opinion of them that their wrong.

Now if they said "homoeopathy is the best cure for all disease's" then they would have presented it as fact and so could be proven wrong. But otherwise you can't call it wrong as by the dictionary definition they cannot be right or wrong.

Opinion: A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof.

 

[JEBWrench]

By definition, an opinion cannot be proven false. One could have an opinion that nobody else in the world shares but it still cannot be called "wrong".

Primary definition of opinion:

a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter

Views, judgments, and appraisals can all be inherently wrong.

 

[Woodsey]

Based on your post, I agree. Opinions based on false information are indeed wrong. Also, opinions based on nothing are pointless. "Correct" opinions are ones that state your feeling about an issue and explain why you feel that way. Here's an example of my thinking:

Pointless Opinion: I hate the British.
Wrong Opinion: I hate the British because they invented anime.
Correct Opinion: I hate the British because they drink tea.

That's a far better example then my Australia/China one.

 

[infinity_turtles]

Calling a false statement an opinion doesn't make it one. If someone says "In my opinion bacon is made from turtles" their opinion is not wrong because there is no opinion. It's a statement, and that statement is wrong.

In my opinion a given statement is an opinion if it is the speaker's opinion that it is his or her opinion. Or would that be wrong?

Yes, because it's a statement, not an opinion. You're mistaking a belief for an opinion. An opinion is a subjective belief. All opinions are beliefs but not all beliefs are opinions.

 

[Limzz]

By definition, an opinion cannot be proven false. One could have an opinion that nobody else in the world shares but it still cannot be called "wrong".

Primary definition of opinion:

a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter

Views, judgments, and appraisals can all be inherently wrong.

That's an incomplete definition, try this: "a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty."

Even this is incomplete. It should mention that an opinion is over a matter which cannot be stated to be truthful or not.

 

[hyperhammy]

My opinion is that Aqua is the greatest band of all time, bar none.

That's wrong. Weezer or Cage the Elephant are the best bands ever.

Hell no! KISS is the greatest band of all time!

Why don't you KISS my ass? They suck, fact!
(Just FYI I'm kidding)

 

[silasbufu]

Our opinions are what makes us different from one another. You can't deny them, only if they're based on a fact and that fact would actually be proven wrong.

 

[OneStrikeOut]

I feel that All opinions are wrong when put in the context of eachother. But for the person having the opinion, it affects his/her reality in no lesser way then anything else, and can't be viewed as false since it is infact what is experienced.

So the answer depends on your point of view.

X =/= Y under any circumstance. It's impossible for both to be true.

Or as several people in the thread has put it, my opinion is that my opinion can be wrong. If this is right, then opinions can be wrong. If it's wrong, then opinions can be wrong.

This logic system kinda describes what I feel intuitively.
But I dont agree with true and false as separate states, infact your example suggests the two states to be the same.

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

Opinions themselves cannot be wrong.

They can however be based on incorrect arguments, misunderstandings, false assumptions, prejudice, hearsay, etc.

Also, many people use opinions in a wrong way, either by disguising misconceptions as opinions or stating opinions as facts. Which, coincidentally, is what a lot of people are doing in this thread.

Yes, but if they are based on incorrect arguments, doesn't that make the opinion wrong as well?

That's more a matter of interpretation, but I'd say that if you're basing an opinion on flawed arguments, then that opinion is perfectly valid given the arguments you're using. It's the arguments themselves that are wrong.

A simple example:
If I assume A=1 and B=2, then there's nothing wrong with saying A+B=3. If A was actually 3 and I made a mistake in assuming it was 1 then obviously A+B=3 is based on wrong information, but my train of thought is still correct in that 1+2 is indeed 3. The mistake at the beginning might invalidate my outcome, but it doesn't make the basic addition behind it wrong.

If I would say "I hate America because their president is Adolf Hitler" then my hate for America might still be very real, it's just based on nonsense.

Opinions themselves cannot be wrong.

Sure they can. If someone holds a view that there is evidence that aliens exist, their opinion is wrong. If someone decides that an object in the distance must be X miles away, and it's not, that opinion is wrong.

No, no. See, that's exactly the kind of misuse I'm talking about. "Object X is Y miles away" is not an opinion. Physical distance is a measurable fact, not an opinion. If you say your house is six miles away when it's actually four miles away, you're not having a 'wrong opinion', you're just getting your facts wrong. Just because you're stupidly trying to present a misconception as an opinion doesn't make it an actual opinion.

 

[Jenny Creed]

Now I see what's annoying when I use my own definitions of words.

So an opinion is different from other beliefs because it's not subjective? I'm going to have to see some examples of proper opinions then, turtles. Possibly something more subtle than "I like yellow."

This logic system kinda describes what I feel intuitively.
But I dont agree with true and false as separate states, infact that your example suggests the two states to be the same.

Yeah true and false can be the same, but not at the same time they're also different. Then it would be Shrödinger's opinion.

 

[Abedeus]

Yes, opinions can be idiots.

 

[Silver Patriot]

This is something I often think about - especially when I'm on these forums - as it often results in debates becoming arguments. And I'm guessing that most people's gut reaction to the question will be, "no, of course they can't."

"Well that's just my opinion," seems to have become a get-out-of-jail-free-card for anyone from racists to the mythical beings that say they don't like Mafia (it's OK my friends, they're not real). In some cases that's a perfectly valid response when talking about an opinion on something subjective (a film/game/book, etc.) but in other instances that doesn't work.

If I said I hate Australia because they invaded China, then my opinion is wrong; that never happened (at least, I don't think it did...) and so my opinion is based on a false fact which in turn makes my opinion wrong.

So to me, an opinion can easily be wrong - of course, that's just my opinion.

Does anyone agree or disagree?

I agree with you. A opinion can only be wrong if the infomation that was used to form the opinion was faulty.

But that's just my opinion.