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You are here: Experts > Religion/Spirituality > Theology > Philosophy > opinions
Expert: Steven R. Storch - 11/7/2009
Question
Hello, Steven---
If 2 people have a different opinion about the same thing, does that mean one of them is wrong(even if right or wrong could not be determined)? In other words, is there only one correct opinion regarding each idea that anyone can have have an opinion about? I do not ask this question for any one particular idea, but any and all ideas(or anything at all) that an opinion can be made about. If I am a Democrat and you are a Republican, for example, does that mean that anything we disagree would imply that one of us in actuality is right and the other is wrong(even if right or wrong could not be determined)? Even a question as simple as "what is the loveliest color?" or "what is the most beautiful animal" will lead to many opinions---but is only one actually the "correct" opinion?
Thank you for any insights you can provide!---Brad
Answer
What a great question. In order to answer it, one must be clear about opinion, belief, truth, knowledge of truth, and truth values.
First we must be clear about what can be true or false. The only thing that can be true or false is a proposition. A proposition is a special kind of sentence. It is a sentence that makes a claim about the world (I'm simplifying a bit here). Not every sentence has a truth value, for example, How are you feeling? Shut the door! However, every proposition has a truth value, and it must be either true or false, and can't be both.
One might say that a proposition is the clear and distinct meaning of a sentence.
Now, what is a belief (or opinion)? It a proposition whose truth value isn't known (otherwise it wouldn't be a belief but genuine knowledge) but strongly assumed to be true. This strength of beliefs has absolutely no bearing on how close to truth the belief is. In fact, belief has absolutely nothing to do with truth. Yet, every belief is a proposition, as as such must be either true or false, and can't be both.
Now, getting back to your original question. Two people may have different opinions about the same thing. So what can we say if the opinions are at least clear and concise (eliminating any ambiguity, vagueness, or lack of clear meaning)? They both can't be true, since no two contrary propositions can have the same truth value. They may also both be false since contrary propositions may be false.
Now with respect to matters of taste, e.g. most beautiful color. If the proposition is coherent, then it must be true or false. Expending the effort to try to discover the truth of the proposition is another matter altogether. I might hold that vanilla ice cream is the best flavor. You might hold that chocolate is the best. Both can't be true. Both can be false (it might be butter pecan). The point is that a proposition has a truth value (true or false) whether or not anyone knows it. Truth doesn't need any knowing subject to validate its existence. "Snow is white" is true whether or not any human ever existed to acknowledge that fact. I, however, come to know the truth of the proposition, "snow is white" the first time I see the stuff that is called 'snow' and see that is is the color that we call 'white.'
So, "vanilla is the best flavor of ice cream" is either true or false. Is it worth a congressional commission sponsored by the dairy lobby to carry out a extensive study involving taste bud responses to test subjects from a large enough sample of sentient beings to discover the truth of the proposition? Hardly. Some matters, as Aristotle has said, are not worth arguing about. And among these are matters of taste.
There is really so much more that could be said but this forum is too restrictive. I hope I've helped a bit and look forward to any follow up questions you may have.
Storch
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