On 7/1/05, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
One of the first things to be learned in critical (or scientific) thinking is to distinguish between statements of fact and statements of opinion. To be most effective that approach must be applied with absolute rigour. Let's deal only with the Eiffel Tower statement, since it doesn't have the level of controversy that one might associate with homeopathy. That the Eiffel Tower is a metallic tower is a statement of fact; that can be directly observed, but even that assumes that there is no controversy about the nature of metal. That it is on the Champ de Mars in Paris is a statement of fact. The naming of places is arbitrary.
That it is the most famous landmark in Paris is a statement of opinion. Fame is a question of opinion. There is no way that you can go the Eiffel Tower and perform any physical test that will establish its fame. It is not a falsifiable hypothesis.
It is information, and it may be true, but it is not a statement of fact.
Actually, fame *is* measurable. The opinion of one person as to whether it is the most famous landmark in Paris is worth little, but the opinions of a large number of people count for a lot, because by definition, fame is a measure of knowledge. If more people know about the Eiffel Tower than any other landmark in Paris, then it is the most famous. It doesn't take a huge sample size to establish confidence in this fact. (Or to discover that the Louvre or Notre Dame or something else is more famous - just ask enough people, and you will know.)