Can an opinion be wrong?

DirtyElf said:

strollin said:

How about some ancient people whose opinion was that the world was flat and that if you sailed far enough you would fall off the edge?

was that really an opinion tho? they believed it to be fact.

Even thou they believed it to be fact, it was still an opinion because they had no facts to base it on, and that's my opinion until proven wrong then i will change my opinion.

1Bowtie said:

DirtyElf said:

strollin said:

How about some ancient people whose opinion was that the world was flat and that if you sailed far enough you would fall off the edge?

was that really an opinion tho? they believed it to be fact.

Even thou they believed it to be fact, it was still an opinion because they had no facts to base it on, and that's my opinion until proven wrong then i will change my opinion.

Bowtie,

That's my opinion and I am sticking to it!

DirtyElf said:

simple question.

I think by definition an opinion will always be wrong...to someone. While you can certainly have others share your opinion. I think it's safe to say someone , somewhere will always have a differing opinion. therefore your opinion will be wrong. A Guy

jfar said:

DirtyElf said:

simple question.

Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion.

And that is my opinion, to which you are also entitled to.

Facts can be right or wrong, such as the world being flat, but a point of view on a more abstract subject, an opinion, desire, attraction etc can never be wrong. Acting on that opinion, on the other hand, can be very wrong by your societies standards. No one controls what they want, what they like, what the feel, but we can control our actions. I can't stand cheese cake, most people would disagree, does that make me wrong? Nope, just unusual. No opinion, no matter how extreme, or outside of societies standards is ever wrong, it just becomes wrong if you act inappropriately based on that action.

My take on this is as follows:

Everyone has opinions about anything and everything (including themselves and each other). To the individual, all their opinions (personal and non-personal) are perceived to be correct and true, but to others these may or may not (or may only partly) be the case. As a result, opinions between individuals may agree, disagree, or partly agree. However, opinions can and do change as time and gathered knowledge/information evolves. So an opinion that is believed by an individual to be correct at the time of that individual forming the opinion on that matter, notwithstanding the right of others to agree/disagree with him/her as they so wish, and also not withstanding the right of the individual to change his/her perception of the said opinion with the passage of time which, in turn, not withstands the rights of others who might or might not have changed their own opinions on the said matter and who might or might not continue to agree/disagree with the individual or even take the opposite stance to that which existed before, in other words agree where they disagreed and disagree where they once agreed, subject of course to the rights of the individual and others to form and change opinions on the matter in question (and other matters) should they choose to do so, not withstanding the right of the individual or others to maintain the same or differing opinion(s) on that matter.

I hope that makes it all clear.

Sorry, but the last section is incomplete. It should read as follows:

...not withstanding the right of the individual or others to maintain the same or differing opinion(s) on that matter, or to form new opinions on that or any other matter, to which there may or may not be agreement/disagreement subject to any possible change in the said opinion(s) which may or may not come about as detailed above.

I hope that has clarified things better.

The above is based on the sort of phrasiology that Sir Humphrey Appleby might (or might not) have used in the BBC TV comedies Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister.