The Distinction Between Truth and Opinion
The Distinction Between Truth and Opinion
Often recently I have been reminded, as though I did not know, that everybody is entitled to their opinion. At first it made me wonder, because not once in all of my commentary had I expressed even a hint of the notion that people should remain docile, voiceless and silent. I had not blamed anybody for expressing an opinion.
And then it occurred to me exactly what the problem was, and I suspect it is Cultural. Somehow, at some time or another, people lost the distinction between Truth and Opinion. It resulted in a kind of victory for not only Moral Relativity, where it is thought that each person or culture is free to draw up its own concepts of Right and Wrong, but also an anchorless, foundationless state of intellectualism where every opinion is considered to have an equal claim to being considered True. Well, it simply can’t be.
Logically, two contradictory propositions cannot both be True. Where ‘A’ is distinct from ‘B’, both ‘A’ and ‘B’ cannot be identical. Where two opinions each assert contradictory propositions, only two possibilities exist, and not three – 1) That both propositions are False. 2) that one is right and the other wrong, but NEVER that both propositions can be correct.
How to decide? Well, we need to evaluate which proposition corresponds best to Reality. Can one make accurate predictions considering a certain Intellectual Proposition? If so, then there is some degree of Truth in that Proposition in proportion as it demonstrates a useful Correspondence to Reality, that is, to the TRUTH. And, no, these decisions and evaluations should have nothing to do with Politics, or a person’s right to put forward his opinion. Yes, he certainly does. People are free to say anything they want. But after being spoken or published, then all rights and entitlements end there, and then the proposition must be able to withstand the sharp scalpels of logical and empirical analysis. And if no correspondence can be found to any Reality, and if no useful Intellectual Model can be fashioned which successfully predicts behavior or the progressive or end results of dynamic process, then, indeed Society owes it to Itself to boo and hoot at the un-thought-out foolishness that was put forward. We need to warn people when idiocies are being broadcasted. BEWARE THIS OPINION IS FALSE. But, that is no longer culturally acceptable. And worst, I suspect it is the school teachers who are to blame.
The other week a school teacher, I forget whom, was quite lamenting that students were being graded, for, after all, to mark them wrong is tantamount to telling them that they are not ENTITLED TO THEIR OPINIONS. It is a startling thing for an Educator to say, and hopefully that mentality is still just confined to America, which, year by year, ever declines in its Educational Standing in the World, now being Last of the Developed Nations and a surprisingly horrible 19th even among the poorest Developing Third World Nations. There is the Philosophy that it is better to let a child believe that the product of the multiplication and 5 times 6 is 32 then to cripple his self-esteem by informing him that his Opinion may be wrong (for you Americans out there, 5 times 6 is 30).
But I have found that this cultural idiocy does not stop at the shores of the New World. I’ve gotten the same complaints from people who carry Euros in their wallets, that while I am arguing for my own Intellectual Models against those who contradict them, I am somehow guilty of not allowing other people to have their opinions. And more shocking, I believe just as many Men have been complaining as Women – that Silliness has in these recent generations climbed aboard the Y Chromosome.
Well, we should all become aware of the senseless stupidity of supposing that the Truth of things no longer matters. If people want to protect their precious Self Esteem, then they should consider long and hard enough so that they may likely be correct before they construct and publish an Opinion. Yes, everyone is free to express their Opinion, but after that it deserves no free ride if it has no inherent Truth to carry it forward of itself.
Besides, People come to this Page for Valid Information. We owe it to them to make sure we comb and filter what we say with some well-tempered Peer Review. We want Science. Well, Peer Review is Science. If you want to feel good, masturbate and eat ice-cream.
