Timeline for What's the correct usage of the word "Opinion"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
16 events
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| Mar 25, 2016 at 12:53 | history | edited | Dan Bron |
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| Dec 1, 2014 at 23:53 | comment | added | Hot Licks | When you precede a statement with "In my opinion..." then the statement cannot be contradicted (except by you). It may be that the statement exhibits your utter ignorance and stupidity, but it's still (unless you were lying) a "true" statement. Someone else can say that your opinion is wrong (and foolish and idiotic), but that does not make your statement untrue, and it does not make the use of "opinion" improper. (That's my opinion, anyway.) | |
| Dec 1, 2014 at 23:40 | comment | added | Dan Bron | @WS2, Again, OP isn't asking what is or isn't objective, or what is or isn't subjective, only whether the word "opinion" can be applied to objective statements. It cannot. He then asks us to apply this observation; not in the general case, but to one specific case he has supplied. He is not asking about "justice", in fact, he is only asking about, "enjoyability" which is definitively subjective. That's all. It's a trivial question, but on topic. And it's been answered; let's move on. (PS: "Justice" is subjective, specifically bcause Platonic ideals do not, objectively, exist). | |
| Dec 1, 2014 at 23:34 | comment | added | WS2 | @DanBron At this point Plato might have asked 'What is justice?' Is it an opinion, or is it determinable? In other words is 'justice' what we, the electorate, make it? What then when the Platonist sitting on the front seat of the Clapham omnibus says 'In my opinion the law is unjust'? Is it something about which you can hold an opinion? All this seems to me well beyond the scope of English language. | |
| Dec 1, 2014 at 23:23 | comment | added | Dan Bron | @WS2 This is the appropriate forum for discussing the usage of "opinion" and whether it only properly applies to subjective statements. It's an elementary question, and the answer is yes. See above. | |
| Dec 1, 2014 at 23:21 | comment | added | Dan Bron | @Ambidextroid "Enjoyability" is unquestionably subjective, and any statement you render about a game's enjoyability is inevitably an opinion. You cannot "evidence" enjoyability; that's s category error. In the specific example you gave, you are 100% right and your friend is 100% wrong. Now, if he'd instead said "More people enjoy this game than dislike it", that's a quantitative statement, and could be substantiated with reference to user surveys, votes, and so forth. | |
| Dec 1, 2014 at 23:17 | comment | added | WS2 | @DanBron Then is this an appropriate forum for determining what is governed by opinion and what by fact? That would not seem to be a question of English language, but of logic, metaphysics, or philosophy. | |
| Dec 1, 2014 at 23:12 | comment | added | Dan Bron | @Ws2, I don't think there's any question of grammatical correctness here; only on the proper usage and application of the word "opinion". | |
| Dec 1, 2014 at 23:10 | comment | added | WS2 | @DanBron There are two issues at play here a) grammatical correctness and b) what is opinion and what is fact? If I say 'In my opinion two plus two equals five', that is perfectly grammatical English. Nonetheless it is completely illogical since arithmetic is not something where opinion counts, it is based on fact. | |
| Dec 1, 2014 at 23:00 | history | edited | Ambidextroid | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Dec 1, 2014 at 22:54 | comment | added | Ambidextroid | No, this was in fact an example I used to avoid confusion. Take this example: "In my opinion, the realism in some videogames hinders the enjoyability, because etc.". This was actually the point I made in the first place, and the other person said that my opinion was invalid because there is evidence against my claim (as in they thought it didn't hinder the enjoyability), though I thought this was closer to the definition of "Fact". | |
| Dec 1, 2014 at 22:53 | answer | added | user65692 | timeline score: 1 | |
| Dec 1, 2014 at 22:47 | comment | added | Dan Bron | @WS2, Unless in his opinion the statement that two plus two equals four is 'bad', because that is not a matter of opinion, but a matter of fact. Given that it would be very unlikely for native speakers would be very unlikely to dispute the usage of "opinion" as shown, there is very likely something else going on. OP, if you could share a couple of real-life, specific examples of "opinions" you've actually posted which people complained about (your usage of opinion), we can render a more authoritative judgement. | |
| Dec 1, 2014 at 22:41 | comment | added | WS2 | In my opinion your thinking is perfectly correct. | |
| Dec 1, 2014 at 22:38 | review | First posts | |||
| Dec 2, 2014 at 2:53 | |||||
| Dec 1, 2014 at 22:37 | history | asked | Ambidextroid | CC BY-SA 3.0 |