After criticizing the misleading and insidious distinction between ‘fact’ and ‘opinion’ that pervades our educational system, corrupting the minds of youth, and destroying the capacity for real thought, I noted that it was not enough to criticize. So in place of ‘fact’ and ‘opinion’ I proposed the classic philosophical division between understanding, knowledge, belief, opinion, and conjecture or suspicion. Note that the fact-opinion distinction involves a confusion of categories. Fact refers to one aspect of reality that is known, while opinion refers to a way of knowing. That puts a sharp division......

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