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Opinion.... I often ask myself, “Is this an opinion, or is it a fact? Is this just a conjecture or is it an unbiased observation?” Unfortunately, I must confess it is almost all conjecture and opinion. In fact it may ‘all’ be opinion. The only consolation to me is that if this is true for me then the same holds true for everyone.
A fact is something that has been proven and remains provable. Straight off the top that puts religion, philosophy and psychology off the fact map, unless, of course, we conjecture that holding true a percentage of times makes something a fact. I suppose that would be a statistical fact; also known as a political fact. My scientific nature doesn’t accept that; although I see the value of such a view for any who are attempting to conscript others into accepting their agendas. It is a very important view for any of the, ‘us against them’ people (and that would pretty much be the whole human population).
Having ruled out all who fit into those categories we are left with only a few empirical scientists; mathematicians, physicists, biologists, engineers and some who may fit in less recognized categories. Yet today their own science has likely thrown them back into the realm of not knowing. The relatively new and fascinating study of quantum physics has left them wondering if they really know any true facts. It has now been ??proven?? that the outcome of an experiment is dependant upon the perception of the observer. Of course the level of measure being dealt with here is almost immeasurable and certainly unperceivable so you might think it shouldn’t matter. If one plus one was discovered to equal zero, even though they are the smallest whole numbers, the impact would wipe out your life savings. A minor detail is only minor if it doesn’t affect us. The question then begs do opinions and our belief in them really impact us.
Most opinions are accepted and often delivered as laws, irrefutable, undeniable and unbreakable. Take religious doctrines for example, they are based upon suppositions and yes I am the first to acknowledge the ethical value of the majority of those suppositions. Yet still they are no more than ethical opinions or, when imposed upon another, judgments. We have the same perspective with doctors opinions, we accept them as irrefutable laws. So why is this important? Why would I or you or anyone care about this? Two very simple reasons. It means that all those people who have been telling us what to believe for the past how ever many years, all of our lives, didn’t have any proof. All they had were the opinions and beliefs of their teachers, who incidentally had a lot less knowledge than we have today.
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