Knowledge vs. Opinion Essay Sample

Knowledge and opinion are both forms of belief. Belief is a kind of mental state that we have when we form an idea about the way things are, or about what someone has said.

However, there is an important difference between knowledge and opinion:

Through sound reasoning, knowledge is a justified true belief. It's the result of a process in which the mind arrives at a belief that is true.

An opinion is nothing but the personal view or belief of an individual.

So, to know whether something is an opinion or knowledge, we should first understand what truth is and what justification means.

Truth is the correspondence of a statement to facts. For example, "Sachin Tendulkar is a good cricketer" is a statement, and if Sachin Tendulkar actually plays cricket well, then the statement will be true, and if he doesn't, then the statement will be false.

Justification: Justification means showing that something you believe to be correct has reasons behind it. For example, "The sun rises from the east." This statement can only be made if you've observed it at least once in your life, and since you've seen it happen so many times, that makes you believe that this statement is correct, so here you've provided facts/proof/evidence to justify your belief that the sun rises from the east, hence not just an opinion.

In basic terms, knowledge and opinion are both beliefs. Knowledge is a belief that is true, justified, and in accordance with reality. Opinions are beliefs that may be based on emotions, personal biases, or ignorance.

The difference between knowledge and opinion can be illustrated by the epistemological categories of analytic truth and synthetic truth.

Analytic truths are self-evident truths that are known to be true through reason alone (you don't need to look outside of yourself). For example, "daisies are flowers."

Synthetic truths are truths that must be confirmed through observation or experience. For example, "There is an unmarried man at the bar."

Knowledge is a belief that is based on analytic truth or synthetic truth. Opinions are beliefs that cannot be confirmed as either true or false.

Another way of distinguishing between knowledge and opinion is through the idea of certainty. If what you believe has no doubt associated with it but is absolute, then it is knowledge rather than opinion. The problem with this approach is that certainty seems to be absolutely impossible: how can anyone know for certain that they are not being deceived by an evil demon? 

Another way to differentiate between knowledge and opinion is that knowledge is something you can use in an argument, while opinion is not. If you cannot use it to justify another claim, then it's not knowledge and is just an opinion.

In conclusion, what separates knowledge from opinion is the underlying fact that knowledge does not require the use of faith, and is instead based upon a solid understanding of facts. Opinions, on the other hand, can be applied to many aspects of life. In the end, it is up to us how we utilize our minds through the best means possible: whether we approach everything with an opinionated mindset or a knowledgeable one.