Judgement (or judgment) is the evaluation of evidence in the making of a decision. The term has four distinct uses:
- Informal - Opinions expressed as facts.
- Informal and psychological – used in reference to the quality of cognitive faculties and adjudicational capabilities of particular individuals, typically called wisdom or discernment.
- Legal – used in the context of legal trial, to refer to a final finding, statement, or ruling, based on a considered weighing of evidence, called "adjudication". See spelling note for further explanation.
- Religious – used in the concept of salvation to refer to the adjudication of God in determining Heaven or Hell for each and all human beings.
Famous quotes containing the word judgment:
“Common sense is judgment without reflection, shared by an entire class, an entire nation, or the entire human race.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“The judges did the punishing, the criminals paid for their crimes and I, free of responsibilities, removed from judgment and from punishment, I ruled, freely, in an edenic light.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“When desire, having rejected reason and overpowered judgment which leads to right, is set in the direction of the pleasure which beauty can inspire, and when again under the influence of its kindred desires it is moved with violent motion towards the beauty of corporeal forms, it acquires a surname from this very violent motion, and is called love.”
—Socrates (469–399 B.C.)