Objective Opinions, Subjective Facts

What is the difference between a fact and an opinion?

• “Facts are things you know, and opinions are things you think.”
• “Facts are objective, and opinions are subjective.”
• “Facts are things that everyone agrees on, and opinions are things that people disagree on.”

These definitions all hit at the same basic idea — that facts are indisputably and undeniably true, while opinions can be right or wrong depending on the perspective (of the person who holds the opinion). Some examples of facts could be: that 1 and 1 makes 2, that Canada is north of the United States, that water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, etc. Some examples of opinions could be: that red is your favourite colour, that dogs are better than cats, that Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time, etc.

That seems neat and tidy. Those look like 2 clear and distinct categories. But maybe we start thinking — what specific requirements does a belief need to fulfill to fall into the “facts” category? We’ve said it’s objective, indisputable, undeniably true, etc… but what do those things really mean?

Maybe a belief is a fact when 100% of the world believes it. So 1+1 is 2 is a fact because if we poll everyone in the world, they would all say they agree. But what if there’s one person in the world who doesn’t believe it? Now only 99+% of the population believes it, so is it not a fact? Instead, what if someone actually believes 1+1 is not 2 and just…