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One commonly looks at something from his own viewpoint. Sometimes, we suggest somebody look at something from another view or in an overall view.

I hope this could make it clearly.

I want some opposites of 'one-sided'. or something like this.

one side -> on the other hand -> all sides

one view -> multiple view -> all views

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It is really hard to understand what you are asking. – Kosmonaut Mar 22 '11 at 16:19
The idea seems to be "how do you describe a more general outlook on something" but I'm not 100% sure that's the real question. – Warrior Bob Mar 22 '11 at 16:22
@Kosmonaut: Neither the question or title are worded well but I understood the question as: "How do I express looking at all sides of argument or debate?" – MrHen Mar 22 '11 at 16:22
This question really needs to be revised completely, I think. – Kosmonaut Mar 22 '11 at 16:36
@MrHen Yes. something like overall? – user3780 Mar 22 '11 at 17:05
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2 Answers

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Former American Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, once said:

As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know.
We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know.

You can express the need to look at additional 'parameters' or 'options' in many ways. here are a few that come to mind:

  • Have you explored all options?
  • What other input parameters does this system accept?
  • Have you considered all the alternatives?
  • Are there any other choices?
  • Do you account for unknowns?
  • Have you explored all avenues?
  • Have you viewed the problem from all angles?
  • Are there more inputs that we haven't covered yet?
  • Have all the terms been defined?

Basically, take just about any verb that means 'searching', 'exploring', or 'viewing', and pair it with just about any noun that means 'option', 'path', 'route', 'input', or 'choice'.

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I would choose a word like "analysis" and throw an adjective such as "unbiased" before it.

This was an unbiased analysis.

His was a multifaceted viewpoint.

We need an impartial outlook.

Look at this more abstractly.

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No. I want some opposites of 'one-sided'. or something like this. – user3780 Mar 22 '11 at 17:20
@user: I added a few more examples. Of note, unbiased is an opposite of one-sided but multifaceted is probably the most direct opposite I can think of. – MrHen Mar 22 '11 at 17:28
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+1 for multifaceted, I think it describes the concept very well. Another option, albeit wordier, would be to say "Looking at the situation from multiple points of view...". – nico Mar 22 '11 at 17:40
@nico: Yes, multiple points of view is good. A somewhat shorter variation: "Multiple viewpoints" or extra, more or any other quantifier would work well. – MrHen Mar 22 '11 at 17:44
@MrHen thank you, MrHen. your answer really helps me. esp. multiface. – user3780 Mar 23 '11 at 12:36

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