Facts vs. Opinions: Helping Students Overcome the Distinction

Barry, Galen

doi:10.5840/teachphil2022413161

Teaching Philosophy

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published on April 16, 2022

Galen Barry

https://doi.org/10.5840/teachphil2022413161

Facts vs. Opinions: Helping Students Overcome the Distinction

Many students struggle to enter moral debates in a productive way because they automatically think of moral claims as ‘just opinions’ and not something one could productively argue about. Underlying this response are various versions of a muddled distinction between ‘facts’ and ‘opinions.’ This paper outlines a way to help students overcome their use of this distinction, thereby clearing an obstacle to true moral debate. It explains why the fact-opinion distinction should simply be scrapped, rather than merely sharpened. It then proposes a different distinction well suited to replace it. Finally, it outlines an activity which can be used to teach the new distinction, as well as a number of benefits to attempting the whole replacement process.

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