A good article, A.P. I enjoyed reading it.
One comment to make: The word 'opinion' is likely not a good translation.
The word 'perspective' is probably what you are trying to say here. The word 'opinion' is a personal perspective, emphasis on personal, including emotional.
I think you mean 'perspective'.
I can have an opinion about someone or something, and that includes seeing this in a good or a bad light.
Yet when I declare I have a perspective, then I have a neutral view that I then have judged by the other person as being correct or incorrect (or if you wish as good or as bad).
It is up to the other person to agree or disagree with the perspective, and the word ‘perspective’ invites the other person to do so.
The word ‘opinion’ does not invite the other person all that much to review it and discuss it.
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It is difficult to not only find the correct English word for a Greek word, but it is also difficult to translate the excellent understanding that the ancient Greeks had about words and the larger structures to which the words belonged, whereas we (in the United States) are rather sloppy with words. In general, that is not much of a problem here until we discuss words at a more detailed level.
An example is the view of 'good and evil' which occurs fully in the eye of the beholder and can become obvious when we compare this to the view of 'good and bad'.
It does not help us that both views contain the position of 'good' -- it contributes to our confusion to see the distinction. Yet the difference between 'evil' and 'bad' (or 'horrible') should be obvious.
The word 'evil' belongs to some kind of supernatural level, devilish in essence, and has no ground in any goodness or in any divine approval. We cannot prove that a person is the devil, so this word of ‘evil’ exists fully in the eye of the beholder. Conclusion: it is grounded in the other person who believes it is correct.
Meanwhile the word 'bad' (or 'horrible') does not contain the supernatural context and is an expression that is grounded in the actual action itself. The action was bad or horrible. It is fact-based, grounded in reality, as in a bad accident or as in a bad reaction. While it is not neutral but negative, it does not have this discoloration added to it that the word ‘evil’ brings with it.
We can even add 'mean-spirited' to this category, and this word points then immediately to the perceived essence of the perpetrator as not considered being of a good level. Yet it does not declare the person as being a devil (just like we would not declare a good person the same a god). Mean-spirited is negative, but it is grounded in the action, not the person (who could do good next time around in another situation).
It is difficult, language, and in this case the word ‘opinion’ is a classic example of folks in the United States not seeing the difference much between an opinion and a perspective. Language is a bit of a lost art here.
Other than that, I thank you for the article. A pleasure to read.
