Brute fact

In contemporary philosophy, a brute fact is one whose truth does not depend on some more fundamental fact or facts. Some facts seem to be dependent in this way. For instance, the fact that a certain piece of paper is worth ten dollars can be explained in terms of—is true in virtue of—the human choices, beliefs, and institutions that support the currency system. The fact that my computer is displaying a picture of a cat to me can be explained in terms of—is true in virtue of—facts about the voltages in bits of metal in my computer; in turn, these electrical facts can be explained in terms of—are true in virtue of—facts about the positions and velocities of subatomic particles. Ultimately, some set of facts might be reached whose truth does not depend upon any set of more fundamental facts. Such facts are brute or fundamental facts.

Philosophers committed to the principle of sufficient reason are usually taken to deny the existence of brute facts.

See also

• is and ought problem - the distinction between factual claims and value or normative claims
• matter of fact and matter of law

Further reading

• "Brute Fact", Oxford Companion to Philosophy, 2005.
• Anscombe, G. E. M. (1958): "On Brute facts". Analysis 18: 69-72.
• "brute fact." The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy. Bunnin Nicholas and Jiyuan Yu (eds).
• Rosen, Gideon. "Metaphysical Dependence: Grounding and Reduction", in Modality, Bob Hale and Aviv Hoffmann, eds.
• Melamed, Yitzhak and Martin Lin, "Principle of Sufficient Reason", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).