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OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, t...

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 129 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OPINION (See also:Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think) , a See also:term used loosely in See also:ordinary speech for an See also:idea or an explanation of facts which is regarded as being based on See also:evidence which is See also:good but not conclusive. In See also:logic it is used as a See also:translation of Gr. 6b a, which plays a prominent See also:part in See also:Greek See also:philosophy as the opposite of knowledge (iirurr lµrt or aXi7Beta). The distinction is See also:drawn by Parmenides, who contrasts the See also:sphere of truth or knowledge with that of opinion, which deals with See also:mere See also:appearance, See also:error, not-being. So See also:Plato places See also:Sofia between alvtrl61s and &See also:Avoca, as dealing with phenomena contrasted with non-being and being respectively. Thus Plato confines opinion to that which is subject to See also:change. See also:Aristotle, retaining the same idea, assigns to opinion (especially in the See also:Ethics) the sphere of things contingent, i.e. the future: hence opinion deals with that which is probable. More generally he uses xx• 5popular opinion—that which is generally held to be true (6oKeiv) —as the starting-point of an inquiry. In See also:modern philosophy the term has been used for various conceptions all having much the same See also:connotation. The See also:absence of any universally acknowledged See also:definition, especially such as would contrast " opinion " with " belief," " faith " and the like, deprives it of any status as a philosophic term.

End of Article: OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think)

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