The Little Guy Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Why doe opinions have to be backed by facts? I feel that an opinion is what a person believes, not what sources tell the person they should believe. for example: "Needles do not hurt." To some people a needle does hurt, but to others needles do not hurt, now how are you going to get facts that prove that needles do not hurt? So since I feel needles do not hurt, but I have no facts to back that up does that make my opinion invalid? The only facts I would have for that is how I feel after the needle has been inserted, so does that make my opinion a fact? Or does that make my opinion an opinion? Since you need outside facts, not your own made up facts, you can not prove that this is a valid opinion. If you consider a opinion with a fact to be something against your opinion, that that would make my opinion valid, but supposedly an opinion needs to have supporting facts to make your opinion valid. so in this case again "Needles do not hurt" I still feel where are you going to get your supporting facts from? You can not look up in a book how a person feels about needles, and if you could how would that book get its results from, unless the person got many needles poked into them for test and they wrote down all the persons reactions. This still doesn't give an outside source to make this opinion valid. So since you can not get the proper facts for the "Needles do not hurt" example, does this make this a: - Valid opinion - Invalid opinion - Fact - Random words ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerRobot Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 I dont think opinions necessarily need to be backed up by fact. However, if you want others to agree with (or even just consider) that opinion, then you need a basis for the opinion, which would usually come from facts. Also, im not sure that an opinion is either valid or invalid. As you say, an opinion is your own personal thoughts - someone cannot invalidate those. An opinion, could, however be unfounded - if I have a particular opinion but cannot give any reason for that, then someone could argue that it is unfounded. To further confuse, one could argue that everything is an opinion. For me, fact could be defined as the prevailing opinion on a given matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roopurt18 Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 I've always felt everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how wrong they might be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pocobueno1388 Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 There is no such thing as an "invalid opinion". An opinion is simply your take on a subject. If opinions had to be backed up by facts, would there really be such thing as an opinion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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