Good food for thought:
Some people say that an opinion cannot be wrong, other say it cannot be right OR wrong, it just "is", while still others say that an opinion can be proven right or wrong.
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Yes, their opinions were wrong. They were the kind of opinions that represented a belief regarding a fact about the world. The fact is the world was always round. So their opinions were wrong.
Opinions are not always right nor are they even always valid. The opinion seems to receive all this esteem as the unquestionable unit of human discourse, but I find opinions to be overrated. That is, however, just my opinion ;)
Edit: In that case I would say that some opinions can be proven right or wrong (e.g. "the world is flat") and some cannot ("blue is the best color").
Not, that was not really an opinion.
"I like chocolate ice cream" is an opinion. It is a subjective evaluation of some phenomenon (chocolate ice cream) for which someone else could have a completely different evaluation, and the truth value of those evaluations would equivalent.
"The world is flat" is a falsifiable statement about the nature of observable reality, similar to "There is chocolate ice cream in the freezer." The truth value of those statements can be TRUE or FALSE, depending upon what empirical observations tell us about the curvature of the Earth's surface or the presence of a chocolate ice cream carton in the refrigerator.
Yeah, that's why I qualified my answer, saying that it is a certain kind of opinion. People who say opinions can't be wrong, are wrong, because there are different kinds of opinions. The kind of opinion that expresses a personal preference or feeling (like, "it's too hot in here for my comfort" or "jazz music just sounds like noise to me") can't ever be wrong, because they are facts about an internal state of mind or feeling. They are purely subjective, so unless the person is lying about their own internal state, those opinions can't be "wrong". The other kind of opinion, which is really a belief formed about something out in the world, based on what information you have available, and your own reason, can be wrong, because there is an objective truth or falsity about the matter, regardless of what you know or think. So that kind of opinion has the possibility of being "fact checked" against information that could be gathered by anyone out in the world.
An opinion is a belief .. a belief is what you believe in... it can be right or wrong ... I think this is semantics rather than philosophy. :)
well they were obviously wrong...unless...we're pancakes...
Just because some say the world is flat does not make it so. Period. I don't give a flying $#@(*#$ what anyone says or thinks about something that can be proven. The proof is that the world is NOT flat.
If you want to say it is so big it appears flat, I'll buy that. But just because you think something, you don't get to make it true in the TRUE sense of the word TRUE - Factual.
It is kind of an oblongish circle. That's my assertion based on factual scientific data and pictures.
Randy, you are going to lose this one.
At that point in time, man who were merely bumbling idiots with less scientific advance could also state what they observe, and are aware of. Any deductions made are not yet proven to be wrong. Therefore their thoughts on that matter is not shown false.
If now I said I believed the Earth is flat, I might be hauled to a nuthouse.
Would you consider this to be an opinion?:
The sky is pink and the grass is blue.
Philosophically It depends on your perspective, your relationship to Terra Firma.
Some have stated that the earth is "round" which is physically incorrect.
Round and flat are not mutually exclusive, by the way. Both apply to two dimensional shapes. A pancake is both. Current understanding points to an earth that is roughly and irregularly spherical in shape with a slight bulging at the equator believed to be caused by the centrifugal force of the planet spinning on its axis and the gravitational pull of its neighbors.
