Opinion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the concept. For the song by the American grunge band Nirvana, see Opinion (song).
An opinion is a person's ideas and thoughts towards something. It is an assessment, judgment or evaluation of something. An opinion is not a fact, because opinions are either not falsifiable, or the opinion has not been proven or verified.
In economics, philosophy, or other social sciences, analysis based on opinions is referred to as normative analysis (what ought to be), as opposed to positive analysis, which is based on scientific observation (what materially is). In mathematics and logic there can be no opinions about some claims, equations, and arguments, because often these kinds of statements are either valid or invalid, and true or false, and not open to contradicting opinions.
Historically, the distinction of proven knowledge and opinion was articulated by some Ancient Greek philosophers. Plato's divided line is a useful distinction between knowledge and opinions that is explained through the character of Socrates
[edit] In judicial practice
In law, opinion is the word used for a higher court's published decision which establishes new legal precedent, or supersedes or reverses existing precedent. Cases decided by a country's Supreme Court, for example, sometimes become well-known because they express the court's "opinion" on how law is to be interpreted, which can have very wide implications. This usage of the word opinion is different from the common usage (outside the legal field), because the court's opinion is not the opinion of any person, but the court's decision after careful deliberation of the case, and is binding on relevant future cases in lower courts. An opinion can also be published at the insistence of a dissenting judge on the case.
Not every case decided by a higher court results in the publication of an opinion; in fact most do not, since an opinion is usually only published when the law is being interpreted in a novel way, or the case is a high-profile matter of general public interest and the court wishes to make the details of its ruling public. In the majority of cases, the judges issue what is called a memorandum decision instead, which simply points out how state or federal law applies to the case and affirms or reverses the decision of the lower court. A memorandum opinion does not establish legal precedent or re-interpret the law, and cannot be invoked in subsequent cases to justify a ruling. Opinions, on the other hand, always establish a particular legal interpretation.
Appellate courts do not re-evaluate the facts of the case, but are called on (according to the appellant's specific reason for appeal) to decide whether the law was applied correctly, or if there were errors in the trial process that invalidate the verdict or entitle the plaintiff or defendant to a new trial.
Finally, the term opinion comes up again in tort law, specifically defamation / libel law, and separates statements into three classes:
- statements of opinion or pure opinion (not actionable)
- mixed statements of opinion and fact (actionable)
- statements of fact (actionable)
In order to win damages in a libel case, the plaintiff must show that the statements were first "statements of fact or mixed statements of opinion and fact" and second that these statements were false. Conversely, typical defenses to libel are that the statements made are opinion or that the statements (if factual) are true. One of the major tests to distinguish whether a statement is fact or opinion is whether or not the statement can be proven true or false in a court of law. If the statement can be proven true or false, then, on that basis, the case will be heard by a jury to determine whether it is true or false. If the statement can not be proven true or false, the court may dismiss the libel case without it ever going to a jury to find facts in the case.
[edit] See also
es:Opinión eo:Opinio it:Opinione pl:Opinia simple:Opinion fi:Mielipide
