Wednesday 26 March 2014

In your opinion, ... ?

I think that "Such talk in a constitution seems to me [italics added] a serious threat both to democratic principle and to moral good," (Filicietti, 2014) includes a phrase, the one I've italicized, very much like Law's "I suspect" (2003, p. 128). And as Pa-naeng reminded us yesterday, exam questions very often use such language as: In your opinion, Do you think, Give your opinion, Do you agree, and so on. Clearly, such language is used and is presumably thought useful in academic settings.

I thought (!) it might be useful for us to discuss some of the issues raised a little more. For example, what exactly is an opinion? What does the noun opinion mean? In my opinion, we might also find it useful to explore how these sorts of question relate to what academics, including ourselves, do. When, where and why do we use the sorts of phrases that prompted Pa-naeng's questions? When, where and why don't we use such phrases?

But feel welcome to respond with whatever idea comes to your mind, whether a statement or a question.
__________
Reference
Filicietti, P. [Peter F AUA]. (2014, March 25 at 8:30 AM). Re: In court we trust [Blog comment]. Class Blog - AEP at AUA. Retrieved from http://peteraep.blogspot.com/2014/03/in-court-we-trust.html

Law, S. (2003). The Xmas Files: The Philosophy of Christmas. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

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