Opinion
Belief that falls short of certain knowledge, and its role in politics and learning.
Works to read
- The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne, 1759-1767
- Essays, Moral and Political (selection) by David Hume, 1741-1752
- Meno by Plato, c. 385 BCE · Great Books
- Theaetetus by Plato, c. 369 BC · Great Books
- An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke, 1689 · Great Books
- An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume, 1748 · Great Books
- Structural Anthropology by Claude Lévi-Strauss, 1958 · Great Books
- A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume, 1739-1740
- Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1817
- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, 1869-1870 (French); English 1872-73
- Personal Knowledge by Michael Polanyi, 1958
- A History of Philosophy, Vol. VIII: Bentham to Russell by Frederick Copleston, 1966
Passages
A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
to be at once the nation's Committee of Grievances and its Congress of Opinions
— John Stuart Mill, Considerations on Representative Government
Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things
— Epictetus, Discourses (selection) and Encheiridion
My belief is that there everyone is under the sway of preferences deeply rooted within, into the hands of which he unwittingly plays as he pursues his speculation
— Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle
If the falsehood of his testimony would be more miraculous, than the event which he relates; then, and not till then, can he pretend to command my belief or opinion
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
the facts cognizable by the senses wait upon no opinions, and that the works of nature bow to no antiquity; for indeed there is nothing either more ancient or of higher authority than nature
— William Harvey, The Works of William Harvey
Passages are verified quotations from the library that use one of these words: opinion, opinions, belief. Sentences under “From the texts” are copied word for word from the full texts in this library. Read each in its context on the work's page.