This article is about the concept. For the song by the American grunge band Nirvana, see Opinion (song).

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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. If it later becomes proven or verified, it is no longer an opinion, but a fact. Opinion is a song by Kurt Cobain, lead singer and guitarist of the American rock band, Nirvana. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... It has been suggested that French Wiktionary be merged into this article or section. ... A person is defined by philosophers as a being who is in possession of a range of psychological capacities that are regarded as both necessary and sufficient to fulfill the requirements of personhood. ... An idea (Greek: ιδέα) is a specific thought which arises in the mind. ... // Definition of assessment Assessment is the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge,skills, attitudes and beliefs. ... A judgment or judgement (see spelling note below), in a legal context, is synonymous with the formal decision made by a court following a lawsuit. ... Evaluation is the systematic determination of merit, worth, and significance of something or someone. ... Look up fact in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In science and the philosophy of science, falsifiability, contingency, and defeasibility are roughly equivalent terms referring to the property of empirical statements that they must admit of logical counterexamples. ...

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. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is 58 kilobytes or more in size. ... The social sciences are groups of academic disciplines that study the human aspects of the world. ... In philosophy, normative is usually contrasted with positive, descriptive or explanatory when describing types of theories, beliefs, or statements. ... In common usage positive is sometimes used in affirmation, as a synonym for yes or to express certainty. Look up Positive on Wiktionary, the free dictionary In mathematics, a number is called positive if it is bigger than zero. ... Euclid, Greek mathematician, 3rd century BC, as imagined by by Raphael in this detail from The School of Athens. ... Logic, from Classical Greek λόγος logos (the word), is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. ...

Historically, the distinction of proven knowledge and opinion was articulated by some Ancient Greek philosophers. Plato's analogy of the divided line is a well-known illustration of the distinction between knowledge and opinion. Personification of knowledge (Greek Επιστημη, Episteme) in Celsus Library in Ephesos, Turkey. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... A philosopher is a person devoted to studying and producing results in philosophy. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... Plato, in The Republic Book VI (509d-513e), uses the literary device of a divided line to teach his basic views about four levels of existence (especially the intelligible world of the forms, universals, and the visible world we see around us) and the corresponding ways we come to know... Personification of knowledge (Greek Επιστημη, Episteme) in Celsus Library in Ephesos, Turkey. ...

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. When a multi-member court is less than unanimous, the majority opinion states the outcome of the case and the reasoning behind the court's decision. Other judges or justices on the court may write opinions concurring with or dissenting from the majority opinion. Lady Justice is a personification of the law. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Appeal. ... In law, a precedent or authority is a legal case establishing a principle or rule that a court may need to adopt when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. ... The supreme court in some countries, provinces, and states, functions as a court of last resort whose rulings cannot be challenged. ... Majoritarianism is a political philosophy or agenda which asserts that a majority (sometimes categorized by religion, language or some other identifying factor) of the population is entitled to a certain degree of primacy in society, and has the right to make decisions that affect the society. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... In law, a concurring opinion is a written opinion by some of the judges of a court which agrees with the opinion of the majority of the court but might arrive there in a different manner. ... A dissenting opinion is an opinion of one or more judges in an appellate court expressing disagreement with the majority opinion. ...

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. Lady Justice is a personification of the law. ... A memorandum opinion or memorandum decision is a judicial opinion which does not create precedent, persuasive or mandatory. ...

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. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Appeal. ... In legal parlance, a trial is an event in which parties to a dispute present information (in the form of evidence) in a formal setting, usually a court, before a judge, jury, or other designated finder of fact, in order to achieve a resolution to their dispute. ... In law, a verdict indicates the judgment of a case before a court of law. ...

Finally, the term opinion comes up again in tort law, specifically defamation / libel law, and separates statements into three classes:

1. statements of opinion or pure opinion (not actionable)
2. mixed statements of opinion and fact (actionable)
3. 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 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.

See also

• Egocentrism
• Philosophy
• Politics
• Appellate court