What is Opinion?
An opinion is
- a judgment, viewpoint, or statement that reflects an individual’s interpretation of the world around them.
While often considered purely subjective, opinions are deeply rooted in socio-historical processes and cultural contexts. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once quipped, rephrasing an early quote from James R. Schlesinger, “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.” This statement succinctly captures a crucial distinction between opinion and fact, highlighting the problematic tendency of individuals to conflate their personal beliefs with objective reality.
Related Concepts
Authority; Critical Literacy; News or Opinion?
Why Is It Important to Distinguish Opinion from Facts?
- Weakened Credibility: Unsupported opinions can undermine the writer’s or speaker’s ethos.
- Potential for Offense: Strong, unsupported opinions may alienate those with different views.
- Compromised Argument Strength: Opinions without evidence can overshadow more robust points.
- Confusion of Fact and Opinion: As Moynihan pointed out, treating opinions as facts can lead to flawed reasoning and decision-making.
The Role of Opinion in the Information Literacy Ecosystem
Opinions and facts coexist in a complex, interconnected system – much like an ecosystem in nature. This “information ecosystem” includes various elements: the creators of information, the consumers, the technologies used to share information, and the information itself. All these elements interact and influence each other, creating a dynamic environment where meaning is constantly negotiated and evolving. In this ecosystem, opinions play a crucial role:
- Adaptability: Like organisms adapting to their environment, opinions can change and evolve as new information becomes available.
- Diversity: Just as biodiversity strengthens an ecosystem, a variety of opinions can lead to more robust discussions and solutions.
- Interconnectedness: Opinions, like species in an ecosystem, don’t exist in isolation. They influence and are influenced by other opinions, facts, and the broader context.
- Balance: In a healthy ecosystem, there’s a balance between different elements. Similarly, in the information world, there should be a balance between opinions and facts.
Understanding this ecosystem helps us appreciate why opinions are sometimes more suitable than facts in certain contexts. For instance:
- In everyday communication, opinions allow for personal expression and foster social connections.
- In creative fields, opinions drive innovation and artistic expression.
- In decision-making processes, opinions can fill gaps where concrete facts are lacking.
However, in academic and professional writing contexts, the ecosystem shifts. Here, critical literacy reigns supreme, and the balance tilts heavily towards fact-based, evidence-supported arguments. In these environments:
- Opinions must be clearly distinguished from facts.
- Personal views need to be substantiated with credible evidence.
- The “ecosystem” is more controlled, with peer review and discourse conventions acting as regulatory factors.
By understanding opinion’s role in this information ecosystem, you can better understand when opinions are valuable and when they need to be supported by or give way to facts.
Why Are Opinions Hard to Distinguish from Facts?
People often confuse opinions for facts because like facts they can feel unassailable. This phenomenon is beautifully illustrated by David Foster Wallace’s famous fish metaphor:
“There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys. How’s the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?'”
This metaphor captures a fundamental truth about opinions: like water to fish, our opinions often surround us so completely that we fail to recognize them as opinions at all. We swim in them, perceive the world through them, and often mistake them for the objective reality itself.This invisibility of our own opinions is why we sometimes confuse them with facts:
- Familiarity: Our opinions feel natural and obvious to us because we’re constantly immersed in them.
- Confirmation bias: We tend to seek out information that confirms our existing beliefs, reinforcing our opinions.
- Cognitive ease: It’s mentally easier to accept our opinions as facts than to constantly question them.
- Social reinforcement: When we surround ourselves with like-minded individuals, our opinions are rarely challenged.
Understanding this tendency is the first step in developing critical thinking skills and recognizing the difference between opinion and fact. It’s about learning to ask, “What’s the water I’m swimming in?”
How are Opinions Socially Constructed?
- Culturally Shaped: Opinions are not formed in isolation but are influenced by the cultural, social, and historical contexts in which individuals are embedded.
- Example: Beauty standards vary significantly across cultures, influencing personal opinions on attractiveness.
- Socially Negotiated: Opinions are often formed through interactions with others and are subject to change based on social discourse and collective experiences.
- Example: Public opinion on climate change has evolved through scientific discourse and media coverage.
- Reflective of Power Structures: Opinions can reflect and reinforce existing social hierarchies and power dynamics within a society.
- Example: Opinions on gender roles often mirror societal power structures and evolve as these structures change.
- Historically Contingent: Opinions are not static but evolve over time as societies change and new information becomes available.
- Example: Opinions on smoking have dramatically shifted over the past century due to medical research and public health campaigns.
- Linguistically Mediated: The language and concepts available within a culture shape the opinions that can be formed and expressed.
- Example: The introduction of terms like “carbon footprint” has influenced opinions on individual environmental responsibility.
How Can You Substantiate Opinions So They Are More Credible?
- Identify the basis of the opinion: Recognize the cultural, social, and personal factors influencing your viewpoint.
- Locate credible evidence: Find reliable sources that support or challenge your opinion.
- Establish clear connections: Draw explicit links between your opinion and the supporting evidence.
- Acknowledge limitations: Recognize the potential biases and constraints of your perspective.
- Distinguish from facts: Clearly indicate when you are expressing an opinion rather than stating a fact.
