the difference between an opinion, assumption, belief and fact?

Answer 1

An opinion deals with ones preference, or taste, and is completely subjective.

An assumption deals with ones best guess about something, regardless of complete information.

A belief deals with ones feelings, or convictions about something that may or may not be provable.

A fact exists outside of an individual, unlike the rest of these definitions. Opinions, assumptions, and beliefs are held, thought, or felt by people, a fact is a truism that does not rely on us to be true.

Example:
The sky is blue.
opinion- the blue sky is pretty
assumption-the blue sky has something to do with sunlight, since at night the sky is black
belief-the sky will be blue for as long as there is love in our hearts
fact-the sky is blue because of water molecules in the air, which reflect the blue part of the spectrum from the sunlight.

Answer 2

Most of these answers are pretty good, so I'll just add something about an assumption.
While most people here seem to have been using assumption in its status as an unsupported belief, an assumption can also be an unproven premsis used to establish a potential conflusion.
For example if you form a belief based upon what someone tells you, you have an underlaying assumption that the person knew what they were talking about, had no desire to decieve you, etc.

Answer 3

I come home from work early one day and as I approach my house, a man in a sportscar just drives out of my driveway!!
It is my opinion that my wife is having an affair!
It is my assumption that this has been going on behind my back for some time!!
My belief is that it is wrong as my wife should be faithful to me at all times!
After some big argument and questioning, I establish the facts. It was my lover's husband who came to tell my wife about my affair at work!
Opinions are like a**holes.. everybody has his own!
Assume means.. making an A*S out of U and ME
belief is something (usually) imprinted in your mind through upbringing, religion, society, etc
A fact is the truth, the whole truth.. and nothing but the truth!!

Answer 4

AN OPINION is a personal viewpoint on a situation
e.g. I think that George Bush should retire

AN ASSUMPTION is something that you deduce from certain information, that may or may not be correct
e.g. Jamie's iPod is green, therefore I assume his favourite colour is green

A BELIEF is a stronger version of an opinion, that often refers to religion
e.g. My belief is that God exists

A FACT is something that is definitely correct
e.g. The capital city of the UK is London

Hope this answers your question :D

Answer 5

A fact in science is anything supported by such a weight of evidence that it would be perverse to deny it hence we have the fact of evolution. Opinions, assumptions and beliefs are subjective viewpoints which may or may not be supported by viable evidence.

Answer 6

an opinion is a person's point of view being expressed
an assumption is a suggestion, something that is being implied, what is insinuated
a belief is what one believes to be true or exact, according to him/herself
a fact is the truth or what is considered to be the truth which can be proved and backed up by evidence

Answer 7

Remember when Jesus asked his apostles who do men say that I am, one said John the baptist, some say Jeremiah, another said Elijah, its like Jesus took a gallop poll but received contradictory answers, an educated guess or mal-educated guess it didn't matter they were wrong but one voice rang out " thou art the Christ son of the living God" and Jesus said no mere man has revealed this to you but my father in heaven and Jesus for His part declared Peter rock and upon this rock I shall build my church and the gates of hell shall never prevail against it. Jesus grafted himself into Peter and we know that Jesus is truth himself and thus Peter became the first Pope and Holder of all truths in faith and morals.
If you want to have an opinion or a belief or make a sound decision you must form you conscience to the truth because we know that a judgement which comes from the practical will can either be right or wrong. Look to the Holy Apostolic Catholic Church and its teachings which comes from Christ Himself. The truth is one, it is objective, its universal. It is like a seamless garment tear it here and there and soon the whole of it begins to unravel. its like taking a stone out of the arch or putting a hole in the side of a ship, the arch falls and the ship sinks. Opinions should be form to the objective norms of truth.

Answer 8

You can have an opinion on something that doesn't have a concrete, right-or-wrong answer. You can have an opinion on the war in Iraq, but your opinion on the age of the Earth means nothing, since we can prove that.

Assumption is when you don't look into whether or not there is evidence and just pick a side.

Belief is when you don't have evidence but can't face reality.

Fact is evidence.

Answer 9

Opinion = I like this, and I don't like that. Also, without reason, believeing one way or the other.

Assumption & belief are similar, having a belief based upon information, although the information may not be true, or one may misunderstand it.

Fact = That which is true. (whether or not it can be proven; a "scientific fact" though must be provable.)

Answer 10

The last one fact,is based on evidenceTested and viewed by many and they all agree it is true or a fact.The many may be wrong ,but do not think so,The other three are educated guesses,without proofThe sences can be fooled and somtimes facts or truths or apparent truths also change.Conditions change changing the apparent truth