Talk:Scientific opinion

Redirected to Opinion as of today --Jaymax (talk) 07:49, 17 May 2009 (UTC) Refer notes below.

Scientific Opinion vs Scientific Consensus
The term 'Scientific Opinion' links to this article, but the two terms are not synonymous.

Scientific Opinion, much like 'Public Opinion' is 'several'. There is no singular 'The Scientific Opinion', whereas there MAY be a singular 'The Scientific Consensus'. Scientific Opinion is (presumably) opinion formed through the scientific process. Often, scientific opinions are published positions held by scientific bodies representing the consensus view of THAT organisations scientists. Much like Public Opinion, you can talk about "the scientific opinion being divided" or an analysis of "current scientific opinion" but you can't say "the scientific opinion of global warming is that it's man-made"; just like you can't say "the public opinion of capital punishment is that it's wrong" - stick the word 'majority' into either and you get a valid sentence, regardless of whether or not it's a true one.

The phrase 'The Scientific Opinion' is being sometimes misused when what is meant is 'The Scientific Consensus' and, since the term links to this article, I think that it's important that either the linkage is removed or this article sets out plainly the difference between "Scientific Opinion" which is 'several' by definition, and "Scientific Consensus" which is 'singular' by definition (and derived from the consensus of "Scientific Opinion".)Jaymax (talk) 04:00, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Propose to remove the redirect from 'scientific opinion' to this article, for the reasons above. I hope that in time, 'scientific opinion' will get it's own article. Jaymax (talk) 03:06, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Above is cut-and-paste from Talk:Scientific_consensus - See also comments at Talk:Opinion and towards the end of Talk:Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change --Jaymax (talk) 07:49, 17 May 2009 (UTC)