Why should I respect your opinion?

Most days I come across opinions I disagree with, either through direct discussions or when watching 'factual' TV programmes. No doubt many people disagree with my opinions. But what really gets up my nose is when someone's response to an opinion is something like:

"I disagree with you but I respect your opinion."

Now how can you respect an opinion that you disagree with? Maybe you can respect the right of someone to have an opinion and express it because after all, that's freedom of speech. Even without freedom of speech, you can respect someone's right to think what they like because no one can control another person's thought processes! I suppose when judging someone's stated opinion, the starting point should be the premises, or what is accepted or assumed as far as the argument is concerned. Next we can look at the way the conclusion is drawn from the premises i.e. the reasoning. So if you disagree with one or more of the premises, or you disagree with the reasoning, then you will almost certainly disagree with the opinion. But you might (and I do mean MIGHT) respect the fact that the proponent of the argument has employed a structured thought process of premises followed by reasoning. That is surely better than forming an opinion on a whim!

It is, of course, dangerous to assume that opinions that our based on sound premises and follow valid reasoning, are correct. No doubt in Stalin's Russia, people were persuaded that it was for the greater good to denounce innocent friends. Likewise, those who dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki probably made the decisions on premises and logic that they thought formed compelling arguments. The Scottish philosopher, David Hume, wrote:

"Reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions".

If reason is isolated from feeling it will not always lead to good. Does the person expressing the opinion have an effect on your view of the opinion? If a person you respect has an opinion that you disagree with, can you respect the opinion because of your respect for the person? Well, in my humble opinion (!) the answer to that question has to be NO!! I think it's important to detach the person from the opinion, although if a respected person has too many outrageous opinions, that could affect your respect for the person. Although this does beg the question, what is an outrageous opinion? If, in your opinion, the world is flat then I would argue that is an outrageous suggestion given all the evidence that demonstrates the world to be close to spherical, apart from the bulging equator due to the earth's rotation. However, if, in your opinion, strawberries taste better than raspberries, I might have a different opinion but our tastes and therefore our statements, are both purely subjective and so we should just agree to disagree. But even in this case, there is no reason for me to respect your opinion!

So as much as I wrestle with this issue I am still firmly convinced I cannot respect an opinion that I disagree with................that's not an opinion, that's a fact!!