Of Facts, Statements and Opinions
Sukhamaya Bain
Recently there were some discussions in the Mukto-Mona forum on the subject of facts, statements and opinions. Because of time constraints, I had to be quite late in getting back on the subject. Now that I have some time to kill, let me make some points.
Here are some Dictionary.com definitions.
Fact: "Something that actually exists; reality; truth." "Something known to exist or to have happened." "A truth known by actual experience or observation."
Statement: "Something stated." "A communication or declaration in speech, setting forth facts, particulars, etc." "A single sentence or assertion."
Opinion: "A belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty." "A personal view, attitude, or appraisal." "The formal expression of a professional judgment."
With a keen awareness of my own limitations, I would say, everything that is written in books, newspapers, dictionaries, articles, etc., are not necessarily correct, accurate, scholarly, or even worth reading. All these sources of learning are written by people, who have their own limitations. To give an example, shortly after I had joined a graduate school in the USA in the early 1980s, one of my professors from Dhaka University wrote a letter to my school's graduate coordinator for a possible research associate position. The graduate coordinator showed me his letter, which had several syntax errors. Now, that professor had a Ph.D. degree from the United Kingdom, and taught me Chemistry at Dhaka University. This is not to say that my own writings are free of errors. But the point is, a lot of things that we see in the written form are indeed inaccurate, faulty, erroneous, etc.
To me, a fact is a fact, even when it has not yet been observed or known through our limited visions. There is no correct or incorrect fact. There are correct and incorrect statements of facts. There are honest and dishonest statements and interpretations of facts. Good judgments or opinions on facts are essential for a good and just world. Bad judgments on facts have been keeping our world unjust and devoid of peace.
To give an example, when one balances one's statement on religious fanaticism in Bangladesh with a statement of religious fanaticism in India, that is a dishonest statement of facts. Here are some honest statements. The religious fanaticism in Bangladesh keeps 'Bismillah' and 'Islam as the State Religion' in the constitution of the country, even when the government with more than two-thirds majority in the parliament claims itself to be secular. The religious fanaticism in India never controlled that country; even during the BJP government, India maintained its secular character. Thus, the balancing act that I am giving as an example can come from two kinds of people: 1) Muslims who wish to maintain the Islamic and Muslim brotherhood fanaticism in Bangladesh, and 2) non-Muslims who wish to appease the Islamic and Muslim brotherhood fanatics, possibly for a softer blow on the non-Muslims when the crime-spree flares up in the future.
As for producing complete certainty, I think honest judgments are what we need. On many issues, a rational person can not come up with complete certainly. Only an ignorant person who does not reason, who just takes the so-called divine words from religious books, is always certain.
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