Fact - Opinion - Fiction

My breakdown for differentiating between fact/opinion/fiction or as far as my definitions for them are: Fact is a verifiable truth, that can be proven with results that are always repeatable or observations that are always true. Opinion is a relative fact. It is a fact that only necessarily applies to yourself. The difference between a fact and an opinion is that opinions may differ from person to person, where as a fact can never be different from person to person. Fiction is the point where requirements to be a fact no longer exist. Compared to a fact, fiction is any point between almost being a fact to being as far from a truth as possible. Since I see an opinion as simply a relative fact, the parameters in which fiction exists, an opinion cannot. In short, facts are universal truths, opinions are truths relative to oneself, and fiction is the presence of any degree of falseness.

No, because fact has nothing to do with my opinion. Like you said, fact is something that everyone knows is true. A car has wheels, fire is hot, ice is cold. Those are facts. The problem is, there are people who think they know so much about something, or simply think they know everything they think of their opinion as fact. A movie wins best picture. That is really someone's opinion because there are thousands of people who would hate sitting though that movie. And fiction can be based on fact, but it really is someone's creativity or imagination that thought up that story. I agree with your definitions of those three words.

The responses you've received so far have said about the same as I was going to. I agree that some people sometimes confuse opinion with fact. Most people will be able to separate fact from fiction. Having said that I have heard of people being nasty to actors because of the characters they have played. Strongly held opinions combined with a closed mind can be confused with fact. That's just my opinion but I'm open to other points of view.

The fact is, in my opinion, that to think there is a clear cut definition of anything is a fiction. All the things in life or literature come with a lot of riders. Water is defined as a liquid, but it is not! change the temperature and you will get a solid, ice or steam, a gas. To search and find the clear demarcation would be academic, in practice however, it is the usage, the context and the inflection that contribute to the gist of what a sentence was meant to convey. I have always believed in the definition of Fact, Opinion and Fiction as follows: Fact, a version of what happened, subscribed to by the majority, or the version that the high and mighty want to be propagated and imposed. Opinion, a line of thinking which is inline with one's understanding, biases and intelligence. Fiction, Facts as expressed under the influence of opinions. All the three sometimes overlap and sometimes complement each other. Take autobiographies for instance. these are supposedly facts of someone's life, but suitably embellished enough with their opinion of themselves, to resemble a fiction.

People only get mixed up when they say this or that is some kind of fact. I'll give you an example from what you even just said. You say it's a fact that all cars have wheel. This is false. Cars CAN have no wheels. They are just in disrepair. It's when people only look at things from one or two perspectives that things get jumbled up. But we can't be blamed for seeing things from our own perspective. We create our own realities without even realizing it. Then when someone else comes along with their own different reality and the facts they believe to know, there either becomes a conflict of realities or a fusion of the two. Either way. It's good to see things differently then accepting things as facts.

As you said we may get a crystal clear definition of all the three words you mentioned. But as you have asked for a discussion to start, I will like to add that people tend to build there own definitions from their experiences. I am not commenting on them being correct or faulty. I am just saying views differ. As far as topic is concerned, I relate fact to origin. It is the point we start from. We do not argue over it. We are always asked to produce proofs for the fact that already exist. Opinions are ones' view. Their angle of viewing a thing. There is no right or wrong in giving birth to an opinion. Opinion is something similar to watching through someone's else eye. Fiction is majorly abstract thinking. It has less relation with the real world. It is the result of ideal thinking like personification of wind.

Very interesting discussion, some really great comments here. Isn’t language amazing? I’m thinking it depends on context and application of words. If used to describe truth those words take on a certain meaning but if we talk about literary works the meaning changes again. I think it becomes confusing when we look for exact meanings. Perhaps that pursuit is a futility. I know absolutes make everything not valid. Even facts for example can even be disputed as opinion or at least inconclusive. I like using simple arithmetic for this. If we suggest that one and one is equal to two then everyone would agree. 1+1=2 and that is a fact but this only works with whole numbers. If we use integers then we can never arrive at a perfect solution unless we round numbers off. 1.000452839 + .989076205 = ? Both numbers could be considered a one and then equal to two but the answer for integers is never just a two. These numbers have been represented to the ninth decimal place when in fact integers go on forever and therefore no real answer can be found unless you limit the decimal place and round things off. Just using simple arithmetic as an example, the statement “nothing can be proved to be exact” could be rationalized. With this definition in mind these words fact, opinion, fiction take on a whole new meaning. - blurred

Fact, opinion, and fiction are three different words. It all depends on one"s perception and self-belief that makes these words overlap in meaning. When we have an idea we all think it is the truth when for others it is not. The constant battle to knowing the truth sometimes make it a struggle because once we find out, it may hurt.