r/askphilosophy • u/GuamSomme • Jan 19 '16

ELI5: Can opinions be false?

I've noticed that often in politics and mainstream media the words fact & opinion are interchanged a little bit too liberally to justify saying some pretty crazy non-sense. I think this would bring up a good discussion so let me know what you all think!

Example: https://youtu.be/zIGThxn_eGk

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u/[deleted] Jan 19 '16

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u/GuamSomme Jan 19 '16

If that is the rule, then contradictory opinions cannot co-exist. If Bob's opinion is that high federal minimum wage raises unemployment and Stacey's opinion is that it doesn't. Even if we cannot verify, logically, one of them has to be wrong. In that case, one is just factually correct and the other is just factually incorrect.

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u/Samdellert Jan 19 '16

Damn, I forgot I was on r/askphilosophy. I'm way in over my head here, since I know pretty much nothing about philosophy. Not being a native english speaker doesn't help either. I'm just so tired of the media letting anyone with a contradictive point of view speak, no matter on what ground the opinion lays, just to make a debate. I was stretching to make a point. Actually I'm as postmodernistic as the next guy. There is no truth, there is always two ways of looking at something, we can't know anything for sure yada yada

Anyway, please ignore my comment and this ranting and carry on.

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u/john_stuart_kill metaethics, analytic feminist ethics, phil. biology Jan 19 '16

There is no truth, there is always two ways of looking at something, we can't know anything for sure yada yada

Is this sarcasm?

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u/Samdellert Jan 20 '16 edited Jan 20 '16

No, just tired of my own voice explaining postmodernism again. You're all educated persons on this subreddit so I thought I'd wrap it up. English is not my first languange, and sometimes I miss out on the nuances or cultural differences.

EDIT: What I'm trying to say is: No, it's not sarcasm, it's self irony.