Y do so many Philosophy Answerers pt out the obvious truism that every stmt uttered by someone is an opinion?

Question

All statements(stmts) are an opinion in virtue of the fact that all utterances are by someone who took the time of expressing themselves. One can say that facts expressed by someone in writing or orally are still opinions in that sense, but they are not just opinions.

"1 plus 1 is 2,, is this a fact? not really, it is a fact that we humans have decided to claim it as a fact, and label it such"

I would not dispute that! So if not a fact, what else would you call it? Leibnitz said facts had to be true in all possible worlds- but that takes us into territory of doing real philosophy. This Q is about the semantics and pragmatics of using the labeling of many stmts as mere " opinion" which is just a vacuous and meaningless truism used as criticism by many A's.

Ah the clever retort: "It is only your opinion that every statement uttered by someone is an opinion, although you call it a truism. lol" So how far back in the the infinite regress of opinions do you want to go? To the First Opinion? LOL Come on; A the Q asked or give back the cheap 2 pts!

Clever retorts are ok as long as as and only if you really try to A the Q-asked!

"That happens because most of the questions that get asked are similar or the same as questions that get asked 100 times a day." Yes, Like the Q: "What's the meaning or point or purpose of life?"

But that is not the point of my Q, is it?

I did not pose the Q to provide anyone with an excuse to make derogatory comments-however some of us may feel about the lack of quality in the Q's and A's. My Q attempts to address the incessant drumbeat of participants stating what is obvious and a truism rather than address the ideas expressed. Saying something "is just your opinion" is a dismissive claim that gets us nowhere in philosophy. It's all part of a larger nonconstructive or outright destructive answering pattern in the philosophy category(and many other YA categories--but my focus is on the this category). I add this detail to add the context to my Q.

A passing observation: It is very telling to me that no answerers of the 9 so far to this Q have considered this Q interesting enough to star it and thus draw attention to it.

"wait, on the one hand you are saying that all statements are opinion, yet you are saying that written or oral statements are not just opinions?"

Yes, Statement of FACTS are not just opinions-see the Rand philosophy post which tries to educate the subjectivists on this point.

I consider asking Q's in response to a Q asked as very bad form bec the Q&A format doesn't allow for a response and can lead to Q-deletion. You should know that and stop the practice of counter-Qs!

Off-topic comment: 1+1 is 2 if the units added are the number one and we say that the sum is a mathematical fact. But one Na ion +1 Cl ion is equal to 1 molecule of NaCl so that 1+1 is 1 is a chemical fact and a mathematical fact. Facts are of different kinds depending on the reference units specified and the application rules of the math system used. Point is, all facts are "theory-laden" and have to be understood within the context of the theory. Math facts, like any language facts, are made to fit reality and though they are arbitrarily defined, they can be checked against an external reality. In this sense the metal concepts and rules are verifiable and falsifiable which makes the result of their application a fact or not, or alternatively phrased, the statement of a fact true or false. Languages are such messy businesses.

Answer 1

The response represents an underexamined presupposition of modernity that all epistemology is merely an exercise of subjectivity. It also protects one from the possibility that another perspective might represent an objective truth and as such compel one to actually change one's mind.

Answer 2

An opinion is open to question or doubt. If every assertion (including 1 and 1 make 2) is open to question, there can be no such things as facts (except of course the fact that there are no facts) and further there are no definitions - no concepts - no words. No knowledge. Everything that is (temporarily) 'taken as true' is merely an arbitrary social convention...

This is only 'obvious' from a subjective viewpoint. An objective man rejects such nonsense, knowing that the veracity of an assertion can be ascertained when judged against the appropriate standard - reality.

"Concepts and, therefore, language are primarily a tool of cognition—not of communication, as is usually assumed. Communication is merely the consequence, not the cause nor the primary purpose of concept-formation—a crucial consequence, of invaluable importance to men, but still only a consequence. Cognition precedes communication; the necessary precondition of communication is that one have something to communicate." Ayn Rand.

Answer 3

Because the questioners are so misguided, and that's why I don't participate in answering questions like

"Is there a thin line btwn lunatic and genius? why/why not?"
"Can we get to the bottomline on the contridictions in the Bible? Show me where it says there is no God.?"
"Questioner's avatar
To who we can really consider of Innocent? criminal or the citizen that stimulates crime?"
"How do we know that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line?"

And some other classics like
"What is the meaning of life"
"What is love"
"What is friendship"

Philosophy section has been taken over by elementary schoolers who have no idea what philosophy is and thinks that asking some cool question makes them look good when it really is utter BS.

Let's talk about some real philosophy and real philosophers.

Answer 4

wait, on the one hand you are saying that all statements are opinion, yet you are saying that written or oral statements are not just opinions?
either all utterances are opinions, or they are not, either all statements are opinions, or not
we have very few facts in life,
for example, 1 plus 1 is 2,, is this a fact? not really, it is a fact that we humans have decided to claim it as a fact, and label it such
so many people wanting to call things facts, is i believe, why we here in philosophy tend to use the word opinion alot

Answer 5

Everything stated from an observation is an opinion because everything stated is stated from a perspective only the one person has. We can all see the same thing, but we can all interpret what we've seen differently. We can all hear, feel, smell, taste, the same thing but we will inevitably interpret all these differently.

Therefore the only logical conclusion is that everything stated is an opinion based on one's perspective of their observations.

Answer 6

Generally philosophers looking the world and human life in a different way. A thing takes a shape according to one believe and like. When you think it is nothing - it becomes nothing. That 's why philosophers keep certain things in the state of opinion.

Answer 7

That happens because most of the questions that get asked are similar or the same as questions that get asked 100 times a day. So you lose the flair for creative answers. Also alot of people that answer are neophiles of YA and this section and have little philosophical inclination.

Answer 8

It is only your opinion that every statement uttered by someone is an opinion, although you call it a truism. lol

Answer 9

Because some people actually think that what we are saying has some kind of 'truth' to it (whatever that means).