Prejudice, stereotypes and conspiracy theories are perpetuated in this manner. There is nothing wrong about having an informed opinion. The more information, facts, and data one has, the higher the probability of creating better opinions.
Opinions make people interesting to talk with. Most people have a set of beliefs that are not necessarily based on empirical facts but rather on anecdotal evidence. Beliefs differ from opinion as they tend to be cultural or spiritual rather than scientific however there are many scientific beliefs as well. Beliefs are typically grounded in faith, morality, or values rather than facts. Religion falls into this category.
There is no positive scientific method to prove or disprove the existence of God in any form Scientists have theories as to the formation of the universe Life begins at conception or birth Such was the case last weekend At the end of the reception, I concluded our "conversation" by stating that "I believe Jim Kalb President. Email - jimk optifuse. Improving Our Strengths Let Our Children Go May Gray June Gloom Getting What You Want Fraser, c.
A fact is verifiable. We can determine whether it is true by researching the evidence. This may involve numbers, dates, testimony, etc. Facts provide crucial support for the assertion of an argument. However, facts by themselves are worthless unless we put them in context, draw conclusions, and, thus, give them meaning. An opinion is a judgment based on facts , an honest attempt to draw a reasonable conclusion from factual evidence.
For example, we know that millions of people go without proper medical care, and so you form the opinion that the country should institute national health insurance even though it would cost billions of dollars.
An opinion is potentially changeable—depending on how the evidence is interpreted. By themselves, opinions have little power to convince. You must always let your reader know what your evidence is and how it led you to arrive at your opi nion.
Unlike an opinion, a belief is a conviction based on cultural or personal faith, morality, or values. They cannot be disproved or even contested in a rational or logical manner. Since beliefs are inarguable, they cannot serve as the thesis of a formal argument. Emotional appeals can, of course, be useful if you happen to know that your audience shares those beliefs.
Another kind of assertion that has no place in serious argumentation is prejudice, a half-baked opinion based on insufficient or unexamined evidence.
We often form prejudices or accept them from others—family, friends, the media, etc. At best, prejudices are careless oversimplifications. At worst, they reflect a narrow-minded view of the world.
If sufficient evidence can be produced then perhaps our beliefs need to be re-examined. This is a fundamental principle of criticial thinking.
It is the basis of much of my work and I hope it drives your attendance this Sunday. Listen, take notes, ask questions and draw your own conclusions.
This article adapted from The Little, Brown Handbook which is considered to be the definitive reference guide for writing. Is this a fact? From what I hear men sat down in a room and signed an armistice in , and these men were the elected or unelected rulers of certain countries engaged in WW II, but does that mean that WW II ended when the Japanese surrendered on Aug.
Did it end for the Japanese soldiers holed up in secret hiding places throughout the islands of the South Pacific for decades thereafter?
Did it end for the Russian peasants whose villages had been devastated by the German retreat from Stalingrad? Did it end for Germany, where women were raped by the thousands for years afterwards by the occupying forces? Facts are slippery things, and in my opinion usually say more about the purveyor than the subject itself.
Particularly in writing even in this article , it can be difficult to distinguish amongst these terms. As a refresh on definitions:. Examples - i "I think the Warriors will get beat by the Lakers tonight. Examples - i "I believe that professional sports are an important part of American culture.
Examples - i "I'm convicted that extracurricular activities, properly framed, can be a great teacher for young people. Opinions are transient, formed regularly, and evolve quickly as data emerges. Beliefs have more staying power, but can shift as data and lived experiences occur. Convictions are powerful life-long truths that we should be prepared to debate vigorously while defending them. Collectively, they create a lens through which other information passes through. In my view, we should have a multitude of opinions, plenty of beliefs, and a handful of convictions.
We are confusing our opinions for beliefs, and our beliefs for convictions. What we do about the problems that persist will be another flashpoint in our discourse.
Escalation of Rhetoric - The debate about whether culture is upstream from media, or that media is shaping culture, is for another time. However, the circular linkage between the two is undeniable.
He gave his subjects simple statements and asked them the following three questions:. His initial hypothesis was that a fact was something a person thought was true and believed others also would think was true. A belief, on the other hand, could be anything—one might think a statement is true but acknowledge that someone else might think it false, or a person might think it false but expect that someone else may, in fact, think it true.
Rabinowitz came up with six rules for his subjects to use when rating statements as facts or beliefs:. But when Rabinowitz expanded his study to include statements about academic disciplines, such as psychology, biology and history, the results differed.
0コメント